Imelda x Hector One Shots
by FantasyMajesty
Summary: These are written one shots about our favorite Rivera couple. These will be mostly only fluffy, K rated one shots, but some may edge to T at some points. I take one shot suggestions as well! Pixar and Disney own Coco!
1. Birthday

**Chapter 1: Birthday**

"Ugh…"

Imelda laughed at her husband's groan.

"Sore," she asked as she undid her complicated braid that she had tied in a bun at the base of her neck in the early morning hours to get it out of the way while she worked. "I didn't know skeletons could get sore."

"It's just hammering all day makes my bones scrape against each other, and it hurts after a while," Hector moaned from his place on the bed with one of his arms draped over his eyes, and he was wearing his pajamas. Imelda was also wearing her own personal sleepwear, her nightgown, and was looking in a mirror on top of their chest of drawers as she undid her braid. She sighed at the two strips of silver hair that started at her hairline and went all the way down her back. Why did Hector get to still look like he was in his twenties, and she had to look old. He had been born a year after her, true, but they now had a huge age gap in the Land of the Dead. It felt weird to know that he still had his young body, and she was stuck with the one she died with when she had a heart attack in her seventies after her heart gave out on her for working too hard.

Hector heard her sigh, and lifted his arm to look at her. He became saddened when he saw her tracing her silver locks of hair with a disapproving stare. He wouldn't let her think she wasn't pretty just because she had a few silver hairs. He silently stepped off the bed, and tip toed over to her. He made sure to stay out of her line of sight from both her own eyes and from the mirror. After he creeped as far as he dared, he jumped at her and brought her into his arms. She gave a cry of alarm that morphed into laughter as he kissed her vertebrae up to her cheekbone. That had been her only ticklish spot in life, and he had found, to his delight, that she was still ticklish. He lifted her bridal style into his arms while still kissing her neck before dropping her gently onto the bed. She was still giggling as he crawled on top of her, and kissed her passionately on the lips.

"You are absolutely gorgeous Melda," Hector whispered as he pressed his forehead to her's.

"You're just saying that," Imelda breathed back since she was still trying to catch her breath from his tickle attack even though she had no lungs.

"I've never thought you weren't beautiful," Hector said truthfully before chuckling. "Even when you were hitting me with your boot."

"I'm still story about that," Imelda said with regret as she traced his cheekbone with her thumb. "I'm sorry about all of it."

"And I forgave you long ago mi amor," Hector said before pressing a light kiss to his wife's lips, if you could call them that. Imelda smiled into it. She cherished everything he gave her after so many years apart. She missed the tiny, loving kisses and the deep, passionate kisses alike. She missed the teasing, the caressing, and the warm, comforting hugs that could make all her bones sleepy with one squeeze. They made her want to stay in his arms forever, and never get out of bed. But they had a family and a business to run, so she wasn't rewarded that luxury.

"You old goat," She sneered with only a little bite. He was too forgiving. He deserved something, anything, for the pain she gave him when he didn't deserve it. He was murdered for goodness sakes, and she thought he had run away from his responsibilities to his family to party and be with a nicer, prettier girl. She had given up on him too easily, and he was forgiving her too easily. She felt she needed a whack to the head to make up for everything she did, and even then it wouldn't be enough. She did, however, know what he loved the most, and that was being loved by the people he loved. So if she couldn't punish herself for what she did, the least she could do was let her husband get what he wanted.

As he fell back down onto his side of the bed and went to turn off the lamp on his bedside table, she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his pajama covered chest. It didn't take long for him to turn off the lamp, and the return the embrace. She never felt more safe than when she was in his arms.

"I love you," she whispered as he maneuvered her head so it rested comfortably in the crook of his neck. He sighed with a smile that she could feel against her hair and skull.

"I love you too," Hector whispered back as he pulled the bed coverings over them both. Imelda closed her eyes, and Hector waited until he was sure she was asleep before reaching over her and turning off her alarm clock.

"Hector," Rosita shook her brother's father-in-law gently as not to scare him, but also not to awaken Mama Imelda. She hadn't wanted to awaken either of them for a while because they both looked so cute and so comfortable in each other's arms, but Hector had asked her to wake him up so that's what she would do.

Hector groaned as he opened his eyes. He first made eye contact with Rosita then looked down at his sleeping wife in his arms. It suddenly clicked in his head why he was seeing the kind, younger woman in his bedroom early in the morning, and he started to slowly detach himself from Imelda. A frown crossed the matriarch's face when he moved away, but she didn't wake up. Hector immediately felt bad for leaving her, but he knew it would all be worth it with what he was planning. He pressed a gently kiss to her forehead, and he smiled when her own smile crossed her face. He then took his clothes, shoes, and hat that he had hung on a chair nearby before following Rosita out of his room.

After changing in the bathroom, he met the rest of his deceased family in the kitchen. They were all dressed and ready to go… for the most part. Rosita and Victoria definitely looked awake and set to help, but the twins and Julio looked like they wanted to go back to sleep. Oscar and Felipe had their heads resting on the kitchen table, and their glasses were sliding off their face. Julio had dozed off in a chair while Hector had gotten changed, and Victoria swatted at her father to wake him up.

"Ok everyone ready?" Hector asked as he made sure the shoe making workshop sign said 'closed'.

"This is such a nice idea, Papa Hector," Rosita cooed. "Mama Imelda never wants us to celebrate her birthday, but I know she's just going to love this."

"I never got to celebrate her enough in life, so I should probably start now," Hector shrugged, but he took what Rosita said to heart. He had never been able to give Imelda the fanciest dresses, the biggest house, or the easiest life, so he was going to make up for that. One birthday party wouldn't be enough, but, as he said, it was a start.

"Where are we going first?" Julio asked as he rubbed his eyes.

"I think we can do this faster if we split up," Hector said before gesturing to his family, "Everyone go to your unique store and make sure the people there are prepared with your presents."

"And what are you going to do?" Victoria asked as she raised one eyebrow.

"I'm going to set the trail," Hector stated with a smirk like it was the most obvious thing.

Mornings should always be this nice.

Imelda didn't wake up to the sound of her alarm clock beeping or to the feeling of a cat scratching at her leg. She then remembered she was dead, and that her little cat Pepita was now a huge jaguar alebrije instead. She shook her head to get her bearings, and then realized she was a lot colder than she usually was nowadays. Where she usually had Hector, she now had an empty bed. Imelda tilted her head in confusion before sitting up in bed. The house was too quiet.

She stepped out of bed, opened the door, and looked down the hallway that held all of their bedrooms. Her family always left the doors open when they weren't inside to let clean air get through which was an instinct that they had had when they had lived in a time that had no air conditioning. Imelda poked her head in every room, she almost fell over in her brothers' messy room while she marveled at the neatness of Victoria's, but her family wasn't there. She didn't hear the banging of hammers or the sound of sewing machines, so she guessed they weren't making shoes early in the morning either. Wait, what time was it?

Imelda looked up at the hallway clock, and froze in place. It was well after the time that she usually woke up. While she usually woke up at least by six, she had now woken up at nine.

What is going on? Imelda thought before heading down stairs. She was yet again met with an empty room. This reminded her of when she had first gotten to the Land of the Dead. She had been lonely for years before her family joined her. She had bought this very house, started another shoe making business, and became the most well known shoe maker in the Land of the Dead by the time they got there, but it had been multiple, unbearable years. The only one she had for company had been Pepita.

Speaking of the giant alebrije… Imelda jumped when she heard scratching at the front door. She opened it to find Pepita looking down at her. She sniffed her before licking her cheek. Imelda smiled before wiping off the saliva in her face and petting Pepita's soft head. Pepita purred happily at the attention before Imelda asked:

"Pepita, cariño, where is my family? Surely you must have seen where they went off to."

Instead of answering directly, Pepita looked to the ground. She breathed on the dusty sidewalk, and Imelda leaned down to look at the shoe print that appeared. The first thing she saw was the Rivera symbol, a large 'R' on the heel, glowing bright blue. She then identified that it was size 10, made out of perfect leather, and it was made from her own hands. It was Hector's footprint.

"Show me more," Imelda said, and Pepita breathed out a long line of footprints that lead deeper into the heart of the city. Imelda was about to pursue when she realized she wasn't wearing any shoes herself, or any decent clothes for that matter. "I should probably get changed," Imelda told Pepita before the alebrije liked her cheek again.

After getting dressed into a nice, navy blue dress, Imelda started following Hector's trail. She followed Pepita as her breath continued to show blue footprints on the ground. Where did you run off to? Imelda asked mentally. She was thinking of possibilities where her family could have gone, and she tried to stay away from ideas such as the ones she had about Hector in life. She wouldn't think badly about it. They probably went to the store, or went out for more shoe making supplies. But then why did the sign say "closed" at the workshop, and why hadn't her family told her they were leaving? They could have at least woken her up or something. She had no idea why her alarm clock had been turned off. She certainly didn't do it on purpose. She had probably accidentally hit it the night before when Hector had been tickling her. She smiled at the memory fondly.

A fierce meow brought her back to the present as she turned to Pepita. Pepita gestured with her head to the building they had stopped at. Hector's footprints seemed to disappear under the door, and Imelda looked up at the sign. Why would Hector go into a embroidery store?

She had loved embroidery before starting her family and her business. She would waist away with a needle and thread in a comfy chair in her parents' living room. She gave up the hobby after having Coco because her daughter had required her attention every, breathing second. She did, however, remember those memories where she was sitting in a reclining chair when she was extremely pregnant, embroidering while Hector massaged her aching feet. Those were such happy times.

Imelda took a deep breath before entering the store. The bell above the door rang as she stepped inside. She winced at the noise. She didn't want to draw too much attention to herself. She quietly stepped in, and followed the trail of blue footprints up to the front counter. A lady with bright blue and pink marking over her eyes and on her cheeks popped up, and scared the living heaven out of Imelda. She clutched her chest as the lady asked.

"Are you Imelda?"

"Um, yes?" Imelda answered with a question rather than an actually response. How did this skeleton know her name?

"Your family makes the best shoes," she commented eagerly, and she was starting to remind Imelda of Rosita. "They gave me a pair a couple of weeks ago." She stepped out from behind the counter to show off her shoes. Imelda recognized the shoes immediately as the ones Hector had been working on, indeed, a couple weeks ago. They were his first successful pair, and they made her proud to see. A pair of high heeled boots that were similar to the ones she wore now.

"I'm happy you enjoy them," Imelda smiled before growing serious, "Although I'm looking for my husband right now. Do you know where he is?"

"I'm sorry to say I can't tell you that, but you can find out yourself if you just follow his trail," the lady winked at her. Imelda looked at her suspiciously. What was that supposed to mean? The lady must have noticed her confusion because she reached behind the counter. "And this is for you!"

She pushed a gift bag into the matriarch's hands, catching the older woman off guard. She looked inside to see an arrangement of different embroidery tools including yarn, thread, needles, and fabric. Imelda looked up at the sales lady with even more confusion.

"What? Why?" She asked.

"This is my pay for theses shoes," she explained, "I hope you enjoy that as much as I enjoy these shoes. You have a good day now!" With that Imelda was shooed out of the store. "You have a family to find," she squealed before shutting the door behind her. Imelda looked up at her giant alebrije more confused than she had been in a while.

"My family is up to something Pepita," Imelda said as she looked from her gift to the closed door of the shop. "We'd better find them before they hurt themselves."

Imelda continued to follow Pepita further into the city. They stopped at multiple stores, and each time the owner would know her name and give her a gift. Imelda grew more and more confused. She had expensive tools from a well known warehouse, a loaf of her favorite bread from life, a dozen new dresses that were all her size, and new earrings, necklaces, and bracelets. She had so many bags that Pepita was carrying some of them on her horns. Each present was supposed the pay for a pair of shoes that she couldn't remember her family making, except the the pair at the embroidery store. How could she have not noticed them being made?

The footprint trail still continued, and Imelda was starting to wonder if Hector had arranged all of this. It was either that or people today were being extremely nice. She didn't know what to think of it. It was extremely weird and off setting. She never thought in a lifetime that she would be doing this. A scavenger hunt.

Another of Pepita's growls directed her attention to another store they were now standing in front of. It was an artist's studio, and this one left Imelda with a raised eyebrow. Most of the places she had gone to reflected her in some way, but this one was off in its own category. Why would Hector come here?

Imelda gently pushed open the door, and walked inside. This door didn't have a bell or a buzzer or any noisemaker, to Imelda's liking. She stepped forward in the vast forum following Hector's footprints. There was no one there to greet her, and she couldn't hear anything even as she went further into the building. She was begging that she wouldn't get in trouble for trespassing or something.

She walked past stacks of paints, canvases, sculpting stone, clay, paint brushes, easels, and other tools and supplies she didn't recognize. Everything was lit up by the warm sunlight that came from the skylights above. The amount of light shining told her that it was getting closer to noon. She had spent almost half the day chasing a trail that she had no idea if it would end. She was starting to wonder if she should have just stayed home and made shoes.

Those thoughts dispersed when she turned a corner.

In front of her was a huge canvas balancing on a huge easel. The painting took her breath away as she stepped closer. It was her family. Her complete family, and everyone still had skin. She and Hector were in the middle with Julio and Coco on either side. Her brothers stood behind her and her husband while Victoria and Elena stood next to their mother and father. There was also Berto, Enrique, Gloria, Luisa, Carmen, Abel, Rosa, Benny, Manny, and Miguel holding his little sister Coco in his arms. Imelda smiled fondly, and reached forward to touch the dried paint. She looked up at herself, and then at Hector who held her close. It had been a while since she had seen herself with skin, and it had also been a while since she'd seen Hector with skin for that matter. Her smile brightened as she looked at the painting of her husband which jogged her memory. She remember that large nose, the large ears, his messy hair that would stay messy no matter how much you cleaned it, his soft hands that had the occasional callus from playing the guitar too much, and his warm eyes and lips that made her shiver with delight as she looked at them.

"Do you like it?"

Imelda turned to see a male skeleton with black and dark blue swirls on his forehead and cheeks coming down a flight of metal stairs from a floor above.

"It took me a while. Hector asked me to make it 6 months ago."

"He did?" Imelda asked as she looked between the family portrait and the new skeleton.

"Yes, when he was giving me my order," he gestured to the pair of perfectly crafted, leather dress up shoes that he was wearing. "He gave me a handful of prints of your family photo album, told me where to put each person, and I did the rest. One of my better paintings I must say."

Now that Imelda was looking around, she did see the pictures of her family either nailed up to the opposite wall for reference, or next to her on a table. Hector had been planning this for a while then. All of this.

"It's gorgeous," Imelda sighed longingly at the portrait, wishing that she could be that young, beautiful, alive self with no wrinkles, creaky bones, or silver hair. She could start over with Hector, and they could have the life they had dreamed about. But that was impossible. Hector must have known she was thinking that way or else he would have asked to draw them as skeletons.

"Thank you, senora," the artist said, "I'll send it by your house in the next couple days. I would give it to you now, but I think you might want to be able to walk. Also, when you gain more family members, you can bring the painting back, and I can add canvases to it. I can show your entire family."

"Oh gracias," Imelda smiled, "It will look perfect above our mantelpiece."

After thanking the man multiple times, Imelda was able to pull herself away from the painting. It made her a new kind of happy. A warm, fuzzy happy that made her think of kittens and newborn babies. Hector had set this all up and it had been fun, but Imelda hoped she was getting to the end of his little day of fun.

Her hope was well placed because the next turn she and Pepita took lead into a park of beautiful benches, metal flowers, and colorful, tiny alebrijes. Imelda looked across to spot her family. They hadn't noticed her yet, probably because they were watching her husband pace nervously with his back turned to her.

"Relax Hector," Felipe told his brother-in-law, "You've been planning this for a while. She's not going to get lost. She's got Pepita, and she's not dumb."

"Of course I know that," Hector chewed on his finger, "I'm just worried that I set up something wrong, took a step in the wrong direction that lead elsewhere. If she gets lost, I will never forgive myself."

Imelda rolled her eyes at his nervous ranting. She would have guessed he would react that way about a plan that he himself designed that went off without a hitch. He worried too much. As Pepita laid down in a corner of the park after seeing she had found what her person had been looking for, Imelda placed her bags next to Pepita and started to walk over to them. Hector still had his back to her, so Rosita was the first one to see her. She giggled and nudged Victoria who smiled before nudging her father. Felipe and Oscar both looked at each other knowingly.

No one said anything, so Imelda was able to creep up behind Hector and say "boo". He jumped at least 10 feet in the air, and the rest of the family started laughing.

"Imelda!" He cried happily before engulfing her in a tight, warm hug. She laughed into his shoulder as he started ranting again saying things like "I'm so happy to see you" or "I'm so glad you made it". Imelda relished the hug for a few moments more before pulling away slightly

"Where have all you idiotas been?" She asked with a hint of annoyance. "I've been all over the city looking for you!"

"And I see you went shopping," Victoria smirked as she looked over at Pepita who still had bags dangling from her horns.

"I did not," Imelda placed her hands on her hip bones. "I was following your footprints," Imelda pointed to Hector, "And every time I entered a store someone would know my name and give me something. I don't know what to make of it! Why were you in an embroidery store, and a dress store, and a jewelry store?"

"I was shopping for you mi amor," Hector said. "We all were." The rest of her family was nodding vigorously at this. Imelda's jaw dropped, literally! Hector reached down, grabbed it, and readjusted it back into its socket. Imelda stared at them blankly.

"Why were you shopping for me?" She asked, touching her bony chest. Hector smiled sadly at her. She's forgotten her own birthday.

Is this what he forced upon her? To forget her own birthday in order to raise her family? It was sad. No one should have to forget their birthday. She hasn't thought about herself in nearly a century. She's only thought about the people she cared about, and, if what Oscar and Felipe said was correct, she asked her family to forget her birthday. She celebrated everyone else's birthday, but not her own. Hector felt awful about it, but at least he was celebrating her birthday now. That was one of a couple dates he couldn't forget. He couldn't forget her birthday, Coco's birthday, his own birthday, and his and Imelda's anniversary. He was already planning a party for that one.

"Happy Birthday mi amor," Hector gave a small, cute smile. Imelda again was speechless. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times like she wanted to say something, but didn't know what. She then started counting the days on her fingers, and she stopped in shock for a minute before looking up at her husband.

"You remembered?" She asked in a small, innocent voice.

"Of course, Imelda! Why wouldn't I?" He asked her, and she looked down at her boots sadly.

"It's been nearly a century," she said, still not looking up, "I can't believe you remembered after all this time. Especially after I thought you ran away from me because you wanted someone who wouldn't argue with you every ten seconds, and who had some money to spare. Someone prettier, nicer—" Imelda gasped in surprise when Hector pulled her into another hug.

"I never meant for you to think that," Hector murmured into her shoulder. "My only wish was for you to be happy. I never wanted you to thing I didn't care for you. I've been celebrating your birthday for years mi amor. Do you remember those paper, purple flowers that would pop up on your balcony?"

Imelda pulled back to look him in the eyes in shock. "The ones that were attached to stones, had little love letters on them, and smelled like actual flowers? That was you!?" Imelda asked in astonishment.

"A friend of mine is very good at making paper flowers and making fragrances. I ask her every year to make one for you, and she never fails. She pitied me in a way, so broke me didn't have to pay. It was my small way of saying that I loved you without showing my face."

"Oh Hector, you really never stopped loving me?" Imelda asked as she looked up at him with eyes that looked like they belonged to an innocent child.

"Of course, mi amor," Hector placed a tender kiss to her forehead before pulling something from behind his back. Imelda smiled at the purple flower before carefully taking it into her hands. She could smell its flower scent from here, and it was only made of paper. I reminded her of life, of those wonderful moments when she and Hector would go running through fields of grass, flowers, and crops shouting out gritos when she was mad at her parents, when life was getting them down, or when they just had the energy. It made her smile brighter to remember.

"You better not go running off again early in the morning tomorrow," Imelda told her husband as she watched him get into bed next to her over her reading glasses. She held a new book about unique, long lost stitches that Victoria had given her that day in her hands, and she was back in her nightgown and messy hair. Hector pulled the covers over them both before answering.

"I promise Imelda. I won't be getting up that early anytime soon," he said as he rested his head on the pillow she was leaning up against. She laid her own head against his, and could feel his soft hair against her skull. She smiled.

"Good," Imelda said sternly, but her smile remain, "Thank you for today. It's still mind blowing to me that you remembered my birthday."

"I love you, and giving you that flower and seeing your face light up each year gave me the strength to keep trying to cross that bridge. I never stopped. I never stopped loving you. Seeing you from a distance was enough to sustain me for the years I was down here, but being here with you know, having you so close, I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to that."

"I don't think I'll be able to go back either," Imelda said as she set down her book on her bedside table, and caressing his jaw with her now free hands. "You make me so happy."

"The feeling is mutual," Hector assured her as he buried his head into her hair and gentle touch. He sighed in happiness. This day couldn't have gotten any better. His plan had worked perfectly. Imelda had loved it, and she loved him. Nothing could make it better.

"Goodnight mi amor," Imelda said as she kissed his forehead, and reached over him to turn off the lamp, but not before checking her alarm clock was on this time.


	2. Spooked

**Chapter 2: Spooked**

The sound of hammers and sewing machines filled the Rivera workshop in the Land of the Dead as they worked on their continuous amount of orders. They got over 20 orders per day, and made over 20 pairs of shoes in the same amount of time. Imelda was surprised that they hadn't made shoes for every skeleton in the Land of the Dead yet. They were by far the most popular place to buy shoes, and they always guaranteed customer satisfaction every time. The shoes were built for them, so they had to be perfect. Imelda took great pride in the title of best show makers since she had started the business and had taught all her family members after her. The latest family member she herself had taught just happened to be her long lost husband.

He came bounding back into her life after so long, and she couldn't help but let him back in. His smile, teasing attitude, and love were too much to pass up. And when Coco joined them later during that year, the reunion brought tears to the matriarch's eyes. Hector had completely broken down while hugging his happy daughter, and it had been the most heartwarming thing Imelda had seen… ever. And when Hector had pulled her into the hug too, she had also broken down hugging her daughter. Coo had been happy to see them and her husband Julio again. She was also happy to be able to move and talk like she had 50 years ago. She had been very pleased to get out of a wheelchair, and immediately began to help them with the shoe making. She had made over half the shoes each day for at least a couple weeks before her frenzy diminished. Seeing his daughter making shoes made Hector want to make shoes, and the lessons began.

Imelda looked up from the shoe she was waxing expecting to see her husband either working on his first attempt at shoes or watching the rest of the family making shoes, but she couldn't see him. She began to get suspicious when she saw her brothers trying to cover up their laughs, and Coco and Rosita were smiling as they looked between the twins and Mama Imelda. Victoria was just shaking her head in a form of disappointment, and Julio looked conflicted as to go with his wife or his mother-in-law. Imelda knew she wouldn't get the answer to this apparently funny situation from Julio this time because no matter how much she scared him, he was more loyal to Coco than anyone else, besides maybe his children. She wouldn't get him to crack easily this time, so she turned to her granddaughter. Victoria was always one to give the truth even if it was harsh.

"Victoria honey, what are they laughing about?" Imelda asked her granddaughter with a raised eyebrow. Victoria raised her head from her sewing machine with her calm expression before saying:

"I'm sorry Mama Imelda, but I've been sworn to secrecy," Victoria said without a change in her expression, but her response made Felipe and Oscar laugh harder. Imelda hardened her eyes at her family, and hoped whatever they had planned didn't result in something immature. They didn't usually act like this. They usually left all their goofy intentions until after work. Imelda guessed Hector was behind it.

That got her thinking. Hector was probably behind this, and he was missing. What was he doing.

"Hector!" Imelda yelled, but that just made her brothers laugh even harder, and even Rosita and Coco were joining in with sniggers. Imelda was getting impatient. Where was he? Did he go back into the house, and put oil all over the floor? Did he go to that joke shop downtown? Did he—

"Boo!" Hector yelled as he fell upside down right in front of her face.

"Ahh!" Imelda yelled and fell backwards onto a stool. Her brothers laugher, combined with the rest of the skeletons in the shop, was surely enough to make their neighbors turn heads towards the home in alarm. Imelda clutched her chest as she tried to regain her breathing. She raised her eyes to her husband who was still hanging upside down from the rafters above where they usually hung new leather to dry or hung up tools. He smiled down at her, and she didn't immediately know what emotion she should go with. Anger was the first emotion that came to mind, but it didn't come. She knew her family was laughing at her, but at least they were happy so she should be happy too. She thought how many emotions, but she could express any of them besides shock.

"Mi amor, are you alright?" Hector asked with both concern and humor.

"Of course," Imelda said as she wiped her hands on her apron, trying to shake it off. "It was just unexpected that's all."

"You should've seen your face," Felipe cackled.

"It was to die for," Oscar agreed with a pun that made Coco, Rosita, and Julio chuckle while Victoria rolled her eyes. Hector turned his head to them as his legs still hung on the rafter. The twins gave him a thumbs ups, and he just shook his head with a smile on his face.

The new emotion that seeped through Imelda was annoyance. Her brothers had put Hector up to this. This had been there idea. Imelda felt her anger rising, but an idea stopped it. If they wanted to be jokesters, than she should even the playing field. There were parts of this house that even they had no idea about.

She took two handfuls of dust off the workshop floor, and blew them around her. Hector gave out a surprised cough before falling from the rafters onto her work station. The rest of the family gasped at the cloud of dust that covered the family matriarch. Hector, after collecting his thoughts, waved away the dust cloud. To his surprise, he didn't see his wife. Her work station was blocked on one side by the table that their dumbfounded Coco was working at, they would have seen her walk out of her station past her brothers and Julio, and she obviously hadn't hoped over her table because Hector was on top of it.

"Imelda?" Hector asked as he and the rest of the family looked around. "Where did she go?"

Imelda covered her mouth to keep from laughing as she watched her family's confusion underneath the old, metal grate. She was currently crouched in the ventilation system underneath the floor. If she had skin and organs like she had in life, than she wouldn't be able to fit through. But since she could take herself apart, she could fit easily. After she had first bought this house, she had made the mistake of accidentally falling into one and it was the one time she had been thankful to be the only person in the house. She had eventually put coverings on them, but she was the only one who knew that these tunnels, that could fit a skeleton, reached out all around the original ground floor workings. After watching Hector look around a bit more and whipping dust from her dress, Imelda started to walk silently towards the grate on the complete other side of the shop… the one behind her brothers. She quickly but quietly removed the grate and squeezed herself through. Thankful that everyone's attention was on where she disappeared, she stood at her full height behind her brothers and reached towards their shoulders.

It was her turn to yell "Boo!" as she grabbed their shoulders with a strong grasp. They gave a cry, and jumped away from her. This caused them to go tumbling over the side of their own work table, and falling to the ground below. Imelda leaned her chin against her palm on the table as she looked down at them with a triumphant smirk. Hector bursted out laughing, and Coco, Rosita, and even Victoria joined in. Julio looked like he had been the one to be snuck up on, and Felipe and Oscar looked up at her with a nervous smile.

"Well played," Oscar admitted.

"Agreed," Felipe nodded.

"How did you do that?!" Hector asked through his fits of laughter.

"My secret, querido," Imelda winked at him as she put her index finger over her lips in a shush gesture. Imelda swore she saw his cheek bones grow redder, and it made her giggle. Don't mess with Mama Imelda.


	3. Sore

**Chapter 3: Sore**

 **This was based off of a situation from Chapter 1 when Imelda was finding all her presents. I just thought it would be cute to expand on it. I aslo wanted to say that I'm open to one shot suggestions. My ideas can only go so far. If you have something that you want me to write about, than tell me your ideas. I probably won't do any sad one shots, but if it's a good enough idea, I'll put it into affect!**

"Humph," Imelda groaned as the baby gave an especially hard kick to her ribs. She was able to set down the bucket of water she was carrying from the well before clutching her stomach. Four more weeks, she told herself as she straightened out her grieving back. Four more weeks, and I can be 20 pounds lighter again.

She, struggling, was able to lift the bucket again before taking it into the kitchen where she put it in a pot to heat over the fire. She was about to lift it to put it on its place in the fireplace, but yet another kick stopped her.

"Ugh, little one," Imelda pleaded as she held her stomach again. Her other hand was clutching onto the wood of the counter with enough strength for her to hear it moan in protest, and her feet her absolutely killing her with the extra weight. She swore her feet were about to break right off. After a couple more moments, the pain settled and she was able to finally lift the pot over the fire. She checked that she didn't need to rekindle it before she heard the door to the home open.

Hector opened the door, and closed it rather quickly. He had been playing his guitar in the plaza for a few extra coins before it had gotten so chilly and windy. When he finally decided it was impossible to play, he picked up his guitar and his earning and went home. He walked through the living room that was only full of a couple wooden chairs and a table, except for the old, comfy recliner that sat in the corner that belonged to Imelda's grandmother, and then entered the kitchen where he knew he'd find his beautiful wife.

She smiled at him as he walked over to her, and hugged her close. He hated leaving her, but he couldn't make money any other way. They needed enough to take care of the baby when it came, and anything they could get they would need. Imelda sighed in the embrace because it made her back feel better to be held by something other than her own weight, but the kicking and her aching feet didn't stop.

She groaned as her feet finally gave in, and Hector held all her weight against him with as much protection and love as he could muster. He lifted her up and took her to the living room where he laid her down on the old recliner and lifted her feet off the floor by pushing it back. He then pulled over one of the wooden chairs, and, without saying a word to explain his actions, began to massage the kinks and pains out of her feet. Imelda sighed and leaned her head back as her bare feet got more and more pain free, and Hector sighed with sadness.

"You've been working too hard again," Hector pointed out the obvious as he press his thumb deep in the sole of her foot. "You can't keep doing that. You're doing enough hard work as it is carrying our child. Leave everything else to me, and let me do my fair share of carrying."

"It's not in my nature," Imelda moaned quietly as he found a particularly sore spot. "Work is what kept me apart from my mother, aunts, and cousins. I'm not a housewife."

"Of course not, mi amor," Hector said as he switched feet, "But stress on you is not something you need, and we can't put stress on the baby. Birth is dangerous. The things that could happen to you or our child—" He cut himself off, and didn't dare to go on. Imelda looked down sadly at him, but before she could respond he continued. "You're all I have. I can't lose you like I lost my old family. I've only got you, and on rare occasions Ernesto. I can't live without you…" He whimpered as he clutched the edge of her dress tightly. Imelda pulled up the reclining chair, and lifted his head so it rested in her lap.

"Oh, mi amor," Imelda ran her fingers through his hair like she knew he liked, "You have no reason to worry. I know my limits and what's best for the baby, but I know I can't make you drop your worry like I can't drop mine. I'll be fine, I promise. It's you I'm worried about. You haven't been sleeping well, have you?"

"I stay awake to check you're still alright," Hector leaned into her fingers, "You could be in trouble at any minute, and I'll never forgive myself if something happened to you while I'm sleeping. It's just so nerve racking."

"I know, but you really have nothing to worry about," Imelda said as she felt the baby change direction slightly, and she knew what that meant. "The baby is in the best of health, " she took his hand, and he lifted his head as she placed it on her enlarged stomach. Hector's eyes widened, which was quickly followed by his grin, as he felt the baby kick against his palm. "See?" Imelda grunted as Hector placed his ear up against her dress fabric beside his hand. He heard the little heartbeat, and his smiled widened even more. Imelda smiled herself before placing her hand in his hair again. She knew that if he were a dog, Hector's tail would be wagging. She grinned at the image before leaning back against the recliner and closing her eyes.

Her parents were wrong. He was all she needed.


	4. Sick

**Chapter 4: Sick**

 **This chapter I've** **been working on for a while because I have no room in my gosh darn schedule to finish it. I actually had a snow day today (In November if you can believe that), so I was able to get something down. Yay! Thanks you all for the reviews and follows! Truly appreciated!**

He had to say he was worried. It was the only word to describe his mood. He knew he shouldn't be, Dr. Francisco was the best doctor for miles, but he couldn't help it.

Imelda was the only family he had, besides little Coco and the twins. He loved her more than life itself, and he knew he wouldn't be able to handle her death so soon. She had felt awful for weeks, and he had done nothing until now when she almost passed out from exhaustion. In his defense, she had told him to postpone the doctor until they knew their well earned money would be going to something worth their time, but now he regretted listening to her over his own conscience.

It had started out as just being a deep cough here or a little light headed there, but then it went to her skin burning with an extremely hot fever and awful rashes appearing around her eyes and on her arms and neck. It was then that he had convinced his stubborn wife to get a doctor, and her only reply had been the slight, weak nod of her head. After leaving Imelda and Coco in the care of the twins, It had taken him 3 hours to walk (sprint) all the way to Dr. Francisco's home in a neighboring town and another hour to bring him back because the doctor owned a coach and horse. He now held three year old Coco close to his chest as he kept glancing at his bedroom door where Imelda lay and Dr. Francisco was figuring out was what wrong with her. Coco had complained on a couple accounts that he was squeezing too hard or that his tears were making her dress wet. Every time he apologized, but now her complaints were growing few and far between. It was almost like the young girl was starting to realize something was wrong, and that he papa was crying for a good reason.

The twins looked between each other before glancing at their nervous wreck of a brother-in-law. He didn't look good, and he almost looked like he was about to break in half. He was shaking, and he had large bags under his eyes. His handsome face, which their sister had fallen in love with, was sweaty and tear stained, and poor Coco was trying to calm him by stroking his arms.

"Hey… Hector…?" Felipe started casually. Hector turned his head to face them, and they noticed his face looked even worse when you looked at it straight on.

"Maybe you should get some sleep," Oscar offered, following his brother's lead. "We can keep watch, and awaken you if something happens." Hector shook his head.

"I can't," he said, and it sounded more like a moan than a reply, "I won't be able to live with myself if something happens to her. She's the love of my life, and I just can't lose her." He ducked his head behind Coco so he wouldn't have to look at the twins' pitying faces,

and Coco reached up one of her tiny hands to stroke his damp hair.

"Come on Hector," Felipe begged, "If you won't get some rest for us, than get some rest for Coco." This made Hector look up again.

"Yes," Oscar agreed, seeing how this was affecting Hector's attention. "We don't want you to get sick too. It would be too much for Coco to deal with. She's only a baby after all."

"I am not a baby," Coco scrunched up her face the way her mother did when she was mad, and it put a smile on Hector's face to see.

"Of course you're not a baby Coco," Oscar quickly corrected, "But your papa will be if he doesn't take a nap." Uh oh, that did it. Coco rounded on her father with glaring eyes that, again, reminded him of Imelda.

"You can not be a baby papa," Coco wiggled in his grasp before he had no choice but to place her on the floor. She then took a hold of his hand, and tried to drag him towards the living room, "Take a nap!"

Hector glared over his shoulder at the twins, who were laughing behind their hands, before addressing his daughter. "Alright Coco," Hector gave in as he kneeled down to her height, "I'll only take a nap if you promise me you'll stay with Tio Oscar and Tio Felipe for me, okay?"

"Okay papa," Coco said before placing a little kiss on his forehead before jogging over to her laughing uncles. Hector rolled his eyes at them before walking into the living room. He literally fell into the old recliner in the corner of the room, and leaned up against it. _Why me?_ he asked the nonexistent presence in the room, _first my mama and now my Melda? Will the world ever stop tormenting me?_

"Now open your mouth," Dr. Francisco told his patient. Usually Imelda would growl at anyone who told her to do anything, but she was so tired now she couldn't think of anything else to do than to listen to him. She opened her mouth as wide was she dared as he placed a popsicle stick like piece of wood on her tongue so he could see down into her throat. He looked down and noticed a bit of swelling, but nothing deadly. He nodded in relief before taking the stick out, and letting the young woman close her mouth. "Well, good news," he said as she started to pack up all the equipment he had used into his bag, "This won't be fatal, but it will take a while to sleep off which means no work for the next week," He expected the moan of annoyance that came from her, "And this sickness may also be contagious on most accounts, so you'll have to sleep alone too. I don't want your husband or, God forbid, your daughter getting this. That doesn't mean you can't see them, but try to cough in the opposite direction. I believe this is smallpox, so it's contagious through the air. I'll give them masks to use, but it will have awful consequences if someone as young as your daughter gets it. Do I make myself clear?" Imelda grinded her teeth together for a minute before giving in.

"Si," she said through her bared teeth. _A week without work! A week?!_ If she had been speaking her thoughts out loud, she would be screaming. _I need to run my business! I can't be bed sick for that long! Hector, Felipe, and Oscar can't make enough money to take care of all of us on their own._

"Who would you like me to get you?" Dr. Francisco pulled her out of her thoughts. After realizing he was talking about family members, Imelda didn't have to think long about her answer.

"Hector," Imelda said, "He's the skinny one. He's shorter than my twin brothers, and he's the one that got you." The doctor nodded his head to show he'd heard her before walking out of the room. After she was sure he'd gone, Imelda plopped down in the pillows again and clutched her head. "A week? Why a week?"

Dr. Francisco first noticed the two, identical young boys sitting in a wooden chair holding onto his patient's daughter outside the bedroom, but they were all fast asleep. Francisco looked at his watch and noticed in was a couple hours into the early morning. That evaluation took longer than he had thought. The doctor moved further into the home, and found Hector dozing in an older looking chair. He only had to touch the younger man's shoulder to awaken him. Hector shot bolt right up in his chair, and turn to the doctor with a pace that rivaled lighting.

"Senor Rivera, your wife wants to see you," Dr. Francisco said, and Hector sprang up from his chair. He only had enough time to grab the man's shirt before he went running into his bedroom. "Senor, lo siento, but you need to wear this," he presented a white, face mask that covered one's nose and mouth to the frantic man, "I don't want to see you getting that thing too." Hector just nodded, grabbed the mask, and rushed into the room. Dr. Francisco just rolled his eyes, picked up his bag, and walking to the door of the house without waiting to get paid. "Young love," he mumbled to himself as he retrieved his horse.

Hector opened the door, closed it, and dashed in under a second to Imelda's point of view. She knew he hadn't been taking care of himself by the way he looked. He looked like he had just taken a dip in the river, and she could still see the bags under his eyes even with the white mask over his face. He looked like he hadn't slept in days, but she still ran her hand down his face all the same. He clutched it had to his cheek, and closed his eyes. _She's okay,_ he told himself _, she's still right here and she's not going anywhere._

Even in the little light there was in the room, he could still see that she didn't look any better than he did. She too looked tired, and her cheeks had sunken in so her cheek bones were very defined. Her eyelids were sagging and her hand was clammy, but she was still gorgeous just the same.

"How...how are you feeling?" He asked. Imelda found it weird that she couldn't actually see his mouth moving. His teeth and smile were one of his most defining parts to his appearance.

"Hot, tired, frustrated," she replied as she took in a deep breath. "He said I can't work and we can't sleep in the same bed for the next week!" Hector was personally hit hard by the fact that he couldn't sleep next to his loving wife for the next week, but she was obviously mad about not being able to work so he placed his attention on that instead.

"That's alright," Hector reassured her, "I know you're worried about us, that's what you do, but we can make enough money. As long as we've got each other, nothing can go wrong. The twins can make shoes, and I can take care of Coco. She could even come down to the plaza with me and Ernesto. It'll be fine." He could see her mood get worse when he mentioned his best friend. They had never gotten along. Ernesto had even told him that she frightened him. Imelda didn't trust him, so he changed the subject, "I'll let Coco see the countryside, and we can play and sing for money. It'll be good to get her out of the house, and we'll always come right back to you," he playful booped her nose, and she rolled her eyes at him. He could be such a weirdo when he was in one of those moods. He wanted to cheer her up but also be reassuring at the same time. It was like melting everything about his personality into one, big blob, but Imelda thought it was cute just the same.

"You better," she told him, "I know I wouldn't be able to sing anymore without you, and I love to sing almost as much as I love you. Please come back to me… always?"

"Of course, mi amor, of course," Hector pressed his forehead to her's, and they both closed their eyes in love and peace.


	5. Timber

**Chapter 5:**

 **This idea actually came from my other Coco fanfiction, but the chapter it is in has yet to b e released. My other fanfiction is not all about this cute couple, but they are definitely in it! But enough about me, enjoy some adorable Coco and parental love!**

"Ahh! Catch her!" Hector cried as he dived to catch a vase that Imelda's late aunt had given her from smashing on the floor.

"What do you think I'm doing?! Imelda cried in return as she took dove to catch another breakable object.

Little, baby Coco shrieked with laughter as she ran past her fallen parents, and knocked into yet another piece of furnisher. Imelda jumped up to catch a cooking pot before it landed on their daughter, and Hector quickly put the vase he caught back on the table before helping Imelda lift the pot off the floor. They both hurried to put the pot back before running after their daughter again.

Imelda went to catch her, but was stopped by Coco bumping into another piece of furnisher that caused a candles to tip towards her half finished piece of embroidery. She licked his fingers and, with lighting speed, pinched the candle of its flame as she kept running. Hector cut across the living room, and tried to corner her daughter within the maze of furniture. Coco proceeded to run through his legs, and caused Imelda to run into him. He fell backwards and she landed on top of him which just caused Coco to laugh harder.

"She really loves how much pain we're in," Hector chuckled nervously at his clearly annoyed wife. She kneeled up on his chest and glared at him.

"And I honestly can't figure out where she learned to run in the first place," Imelda growled sarcastically down at her husband which caused him to grow a guilty smile. He remembered teaching Coco to walk, and then… teaching her to run moments later. Coco had seen her Papa running all the time because he tended to be late, and she was now following his lead… and was apparently having a blast.

"Oh come on now," Hector tried to sooth her irritation as he sat up so she was now in his lap. He smoothed out her grey dress where it had gotten creased during the fall, "At least she's having fun, right?"

"And she's demolishing the house in the process," Imelda said as she looked around the living room, trying to find her daughter. She heard clanking in the kitchen, and immediately shot up and ran into the next room. Hector quickly got up himself, and followed.

They proceeded to chase a giggling girl around the kitchen, around the backyard, into their bedroom, and back out into the living room again. Pepita the cat just watched her woman's husband struggle back and forth in between rooms as her woman kept catching falling objecting. Pepita felt quite safe on top of the shelf in the main room for most of the ordeal, but soon found no one was safe as Hector dove for Coco, missed, and slid backfirst into the front of the shelf. The shelf began to tumble and would have crushed Hector if her woman hadn't run in and caught the large piece of wood.

Pepita gave a sacred "meow", and landed on Imelda with claws out. Imelda cringed as the cat's claws dug into her shoulder, and Hector rushed to help her with the heavy shelf but found his back hurt from the collision. He eventually was able to crawl out from under the shelf, so she could set the shelf down. Imelda prided Pepita off her shoulder as Hector crawled over to her.

"Are you ok?" He asked as she kneeled down on the floor next to him.

"Yeah, just a little blood," Imelda inspected her shoulder, and could see the dark red liquid seeping through the fabric. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, probably just a bruise," Hector stretched out his back before he tensed when Imelda rested her head against his chest. He hugged her close, and smiled. This was the closest you could get to Imelda Rivera asking for comfort, and he enjoyed it when she came to him. He also enjoyed the closeness as he smelled her lilac scented hair and her smooth, soft skin.

Coco stopped laughing when she didn't hear her parents chasing her anymore. She turned to see her parents hugging each other in front of the main door on the floor, and felt bad. They were hurt. She had played too rough and got them hurt. She walked slowly over to them, and felt bad as she saw her Mama's exhausted face and her Papa's heavy breathing. She squeezed into their hug, and felt them in case her in the hug as well.

"Oh little Coco," Hector cooed as he hugged his little family close. He couldn't get anything better than this. They all looked up when the front door opened in front of them. Oscar and Felipe looked down at them, and then looked at the fallen shelf, the overturned objects, and just the overturned state of the house. They then looked down at their sister, niece, and brother-in-law with confusion.

"Did we…" Felipe started.

"Miss something?" Oscar finished.

Imelda just ignored them, and hugged Coco closer to her chest. Hector was the one to smile up at them, and look gratefully at the groceries they brought home.

"It's a long story," Hector decided that was the best answer.


	6. Forgiveness

**Chapter 6: Forgiveness**

 **This is what I imagine Hector and Imelda's first, real conversation was after they both learn about how Hector actually died. There is some references to some of my living one shots, so if you haven't read those yet you might be a little confused. Without further a do, one shot #6!**

Hector had to admit to himself… he never thought he would be allowed into this house.

He stared around the house he was currently sitting in. He had seen this house from a far for years, and never expected to be able to enter, let alone invited to enter. After the whole fiasco with his supposed friend, turned murderer, Ernesto and his great great grandson, Miguel, the Riveras had taken him back to their house to rest after almost being forgotten. Apparently the family's idea of rest was showing him their photo album of the other half of the family in the Land of the Living.

He was actually happy to see the faces and memorize the names of the people who he could now officially call family. He was even more happy to see pictures of his little Coco growing up into the woman she was today. He saw her school photos, her wedding photos, and photos of her holding her babies, or her daughter's babies. His heart swelled at her happy smile in every picture, and was relieved to know that she was having a very joyful life. Talking, looking, and sharing stories about the family he never had made him more happy than words could describe, but he was concerned about the woman skeleton who was leaning against the wall in the corner.

Imelda Rivera was one of those people who hated to say she was wrong. She liked being right, and showing her strength and opinion on a subject freely. She had thought for years and years that he had abandoned her and their daughter for a better, easier life without them, but he had actually died for the soul reason of wanting to return to them. It hurt her to her core to know that her sweet, loving husband, the one she had given her heart to, was innocent, and that she had made her entire family hate him because of something that wasn't true. She didn't even know how to approach him. He was probably so mad at her for treating him so horribly, but she wanted to talk to him still. She wanted to see if she could get them to neutral terms so he could still come and get to know the family, but would be able to handle being around her.

Hector looked over at Imelda multiple times as Rosita and the twins kept talking about the smaller twins, Benny and Manny, if Hector remembered correctly, who were basically like Oscar and Felipe when they were that young. Victoria was just reclining in another chair in the room reading a book, so she didn't have to talk but she could still be around her family, and Julio had drifted off in his own chair. He kept catching Imelda's eye, but she swiftly turned away… almost like she was scared. Hector immediately shook that thought off. Imelda? Scared? Ha! It was almost laughable, but he also knew that everyone was afraid of something and that was nothing to be ashamed of. He was afraid that she would snap at him again if he tried anything too rash.

He loved Imelda. He had always loved Imelda, and her parents had hated him for it. They had hated the fact that an orphan boy was trying to win the heart of their above class daughter, and that their daughter and their two sons were sticking up for him. Imelda was also not someone who would outwardly say 'I love you' either, but she said it in her own special way. She had said it by yelling at her parents for being so cruel to him, she said it by leaving them to be with him, she said it by walking down the aisle in a beautiful, white, sun dress, and she said it by holding her newborn baby in her arms as they excitedly thought of names.

He smiled at the memories, and turned that loving smile on her. He saw her duck her head, and he recognized that move as one she used what she was trying to cover a blush. She couldn't blush, however, because skeletons could not blush, but he knew she was embarrassed, shy, and scared again. He didn't want to scare her. He wanted to love her freely, and have her love in return. It didn't matter if they never shared a kiss or a bed again, but he wanted her to know how much he cared about the senorita who protected him against the foul people of Santa Cecilia when they were children. The one who had hugged him, and the one who had let him hug her. The one who cared about a silly, lovestruck orphan because he gave her a wilting version of her favorite flower, and had given him a kiss on the cheek in return. He had wanted her for almost a century, and he was getting closer than he ever thought possible. He didn't, couldn't, mess this up.

"They once walked straight through an overturned bucket of paint, and left little, white footprints all over the ofrenda room and the courtyard," Rosita said which caught Hector's attention, "Did Coco ever do something so funny?" It took a moment for Hector to realized that his daughter's sister-in-law was talking to him.

"What?" He asked stupidly before finally breaking his eye contact with Imelda to look at Rosita, and noticed that all awake eyes, including Victoria's, who was looking over the edge of her book, were watching him and waiting for an answer. "Well… um… there was that one time where I had taught Coco to walk and run in the same day, and it turned into quite the sticky situation…"

"Sticky situation is an understatement," Felipe grinned.

"It looked like the house had been turned over," Oscar laughed.

"And who knew that I could catch a 100 pound cabinet, trip over you, and lose five pounds of baby fat in one day," Imelda smirked from her corner as her brothers laughter doubled. Hector smiled hopefully at his wife as the entire family laughed. She stared at him for a minute before her fear and sadness clouded her beautiful brown eyes again. His smile turned into a worried expression as her eyes started to tear up.

Of course he's not mad, Imelda thought to herself, he's stupid that way. Too forgiving. He doesn't think it's my fault, and still cares about my well being over his. He doesn't even care that my actions almost made him experience the Final Death far too soon. Why can't he punish me like I deserve to be?

Imelda turned swiftly on the heels of her boots, and left the room unnoticed by anyone, except her husband and her granddaughter. Hector's concern outweighed his want to get to know the other people in the family as he got up from his seat on the couch.

"Excuse me," he said to a confused Rosita as he followed Imelda out the back door of the house. Hector opening the squeaky door woke up Julio, and he stared wildly around for the source of the noise. Rosita was about to call after Hector, but was stopped by her niece.

"Let him go," Victoria said as she went back to her book and Hector closed the door after him, "He's going after Mama Imelda." Rosita and the twins went "oh" before Rosita started squealing with excitement and it took both Victoria and Julio to convince her not to go spy on them.

"Pepita?" Imelda called as she came out of the house into the dark of the evening and stepped out into the plastic grass of the backyard. She didn't have to wait long for the giant alebrije to fly off the workshop's roof, and land in front of her. The great jaguar alebrije sat down in front of her woman, and leaned her head forward. Imelda raised her hand, and stroked her giant head. Even without nerves she could feel the soft fur and the vibrations of Pepita's purring, and it reminded her of the days cuddling with Pepita in her smaller cat form in the Land of the Living after she had put Coco to sleep. Pepita was the only one who had seen her cry over her husband leaving her, and couldn't help letting the tears fall in the company of her beloved pet.

Pepita did not judge her as Imelda clutched the fur of her chest, and cried into it. Pepita hung her head around her woman in a makeshift hug as Imelda cried for the first time in over 50 years. She cried about all the emotions that she had felt for years. Betrayal, homesick, and a broken heart were all things that came back to her as she felt the cold, wetness running down her cheeks. She also thought about Miguel running away from her, and into the city. She thought about the feeling of never sending him home, and imagining his parent's faces as they realized he would never come back to them. She herself imagined losing Coco as a child of 12, and how that would have finally been the thing to break her.

She knew none of it was true.

Miguel was home safe, Coco was still going strong at the age of 99, her family in the Land of the Living were all fell and happy, and Hector had never not loved her. He tired to come home… he tried to come home, and was murdered for it. He loved her and Coco, and she had yelled at him for years for something that wasn't true. She felt terrible. She had made him feel terrible. She couldn't be forgiven for this. This time she had gone too far. This wasn't like beating up boys who were crushing on her on the playground when she was little. She had really hurt him, and almost was the cause of his second death. She couldn't be forgiven.

Her senses went into overdrive when she felt Pepita vibrate harder with a growl instead of a pur. She turned her head slightly to see a shadow standing on the steps leading down into the backyard. She grew fearful for a minute, but relaxed slightly when she noticed the shadow of a familiar hat.

"Hector?" She asked, and hated how fragile and rough her voice sounded. She didn't want him to feel the need to comfort her.

"Imelda, mi amor, are you alright?" Hector asked as he stepped towards her onto the plastic grass, but immediately jumped back when Pepita bared her teeth at him.

"I'm fine, Hector," Imelda turned her back to him, and stayed underneath Pepita's neck so teeth were in between them. "Go back inside."

"But you're not fine," Hector was trying to figure out if Pepita's bite would be worth helping Imelda with help she didn't want, "Let me help you. Please don't shut me out."

"I deserve to be alone," Imelda could feel her tears starting again, "I deserve to be miserable."

"Of course you don't," Hector said, horrified, "Why would you think that? You've worked so hard to keep your family happy and well funded. You let go of so much and put in so much love for them. The question is why wouldn't you deserve love? Imelda, please… I want to give you the love you deserve."

"Hector… go find someone else," Imelda had to admit she was crying freely now, "Go find someone that wouldn't throw away your trust like it's nothing. Go find someone that won't punish you for something you didn't do. Someone that will treat you fairly. Someone that won't kill you!"

Hector, in the time he had known Imelda, had never seen her lose control like this before. He had never seen her so conflicted, so confused… so sad. She really blamed herself for him almost being forgotten? She couldn't control that! She didn't know how her one action would result in the domino effect. She was being way too hard on herself, and it was resulting in a mental breakdown. He felt awful!

Without giving a glance or thought to Pepita's snarling fangs, Hector dove under Pepita's head and wrapped Imelda in a hug from behind. He expected Imelda to struggle against him or he expected Pepita to bite down on him, or both. He got neither.

He felt Pepita sniff him for a second, recognize his scent from when he was alive, and then relaxed by rubbing her head against his back. Imelda's reaction took him by the most surprise. She too relaxed greatly in his hold, and leaned back into his embrace. He could still hear muffled whimpers and her tears were now dripping in between his forearm bones, but he focused on the positives. He hadn't been able to comprehend her presence when he had been moments away from the Final Death hours earlier, so he could now list out all the things he remembered about her.

As he pressed his forehead against the back of her skull, he could smell the flowery scent of her hair, look at the intricate braid along with the purple ribbon that she had expertly crafted her hair into, and could feel how smooth her bones were unlike his old, nearly forgotten ones. Her dress was new and smooth, he could feel the leather, shoe-making apron as he hugged her around her waist and chest, and he could feel her ribs moving against his own as she took in ragged, shuddering breaths. He sighed against her neck where he could see a purple jemed, black beaded choker necklace around her vertebrae, and felt her shiver with his actions.

"Imelda," he said quietly next to where her ear should be, "I will never want anyone besides you. You are my one and only, and I love you more than life itself. You were never a threat to my life, and you are only a threat to my heart as I watch you struggle with this new truth about my disappearance. Trust me now when I saw… I love you Imelda Rivera. Death, life, or even the Final Death would not be able to change my mind." He had been wanting to say those words ever since he found her in the Land of the Dead for the first time all those years ago. Back then she didn't listen. She threw her boot at him, and called Pepita to chase him away. But now as he stood under the great alebrije, who was still rubbing his back with her head, holding his loveable, sad wife, he knew that she would listen. She could do nothing but listen as the stood in the backyard under the stars in the dark sky. Please listen, Hector begged mentally.

Imelda took deep breaths as she thought over what he said. Her eyes were now brimming with a new kind of emotion. Happiness. These were happy tears that fell down her already soaked face as she trembled in his arms. He'd said it. He loved her. He still did after all this time. He was never one to lie to his family, and she knew, if what Miguel had said was true, that he wouldn't have tried to cross the Marigold Bridge every year without success to see their daughter if he didn't care. He wouldn't have kept coming to her, chasing her down, following her through the farmers market, if he didn't care. Why couldn't her heart get a break?

She turned in his embrace, and buried her face in his chest. His hands wandered up her back, and encircled her as best he could. She could feel him rest his chin against the top of her head, and breath out a sigh of relief. She then wrapped her own arms around his back, and held him tightly against her. She wouldn't let him go.

Hector pulled back enough to press a loving, long kiss against the facial markings right at her hairline. He looked down at her eyes as they looked up at him, expecting. He carefully directed his hands, and ran his thumbs right under her eye socket to pick up all her stray tears. He then cupped her cheekbones in his hands, and looked straight into her dark eyes that could burn through stone but could also melt his soul.

Imelda shot up on the tips of her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck before pulling him into a kiss. He had never kissed anyone as a skeleton before, and he doubted she had either, but he still closed his eyes on the contact and gave a hungry moan as he kissed back. It wasn't anything like the kisses they had shared in the Land of the Living, but it still made him feel the same warm, tingling feeling that had given him goosebumps. Imelda pulled away much too early for his liking, and dropped back down so her whole foot was on the ground.

"I love you too," Imelda whispered, and Hector's eyes widened.

She never said that. Even when they were alive, she had barely said that. That meant that she was either really guilty, or she had been holding it in for awhile. Either way, it gave him that warm feeling again and he couldn't think of any other way to respond besides to show her how much he loved her.

He smashed their lips together again, and he heard her sigh with contempt at his action. He had lost her for too long, and he wasn't going to lose her again. She was his, and his alone. Neither Ernesto, the Final Death, nor their afterlives in general would keep them apart. Not this time.

"Oh, you guys are adorable!"

Hector and Imelda jumped apart like they had been electrocuted. They stared around in surprise for the voice, and found Rosita standing in the threshold of the door that lead into the backyard. They also saw Julio and Victoria breathing heavily like they had just run a marathon behind Rosita, and Felipe and Oscar looking through the window to the left of the door. Imelda's mouth and eyes twitched angrily, and Hector tried to cover up his laugh as he saw the twins sink below the mirror to escape her burning glare.

"How long have you been standing there?" Imelda snarled as she furious tried to whip away the rest of her collected tears.

"Only a couple of minutes," Rosita smiled like she hadn't done anything wrong, "It would have been a couple hours if these two hadn't held me back." She pointed to her niece and brother who had finally caught their breath and were attempting to smile uneasily at their angry Mama Imelda. The twins stuck their heads out from around the door frame, and looked guiltily over at their sister.

"So…" Felipe began.

"Did you two work everything out?" Oscar asked.

Imelda looked up at Hector, and Hector looked down at her. He too wanted to know what her answer was. She smiled up at him.

"I think we did," she said, and smiled wider as she felt Hector's arm snake around her waist and pull her closer. She leaned against him happily. He really was the best husband she could ever hope to have.


	7. Relief

**Chapter 7:**

 **This one shot idea was requested by FashionLuver98. You can thank them for this new update. It would have been a long time coming without the idea because I've been without an idea for awhile. But I have a couple more in mind right now, so I'll post them as soon as physically and mentally possible. Merry Christmas to people who celebrate it, and Happy Holidays to everyone that doesn't. May this update be to your liking, and have an excellent day!**

"I'm sure you're excited Hector," Imelda said as she straightened out her purple dress and her leather work apron as she looked in the mirror of their bedroom. "Even with Coco here, I know you still want to cross that bridge. I can't believe Coco kept that ripped part of the picture for all these years."

"I am excited," Hector said as he came over to stand next to her, and looked deep into the reflection of those brown eyes. "It has been almost 100 years. I'm interested to see what Santa Cecilia looks like now." Imelda looked down cast at her boots at his words, and Hector rolled his eyes before taking a hold of her shoulders. She was mad at herself again. She was frustrated with herself for all of those years she had left him in the dark, but he wouldn't allow her to feel that amount of misery about something that she couldn't control.

"No sadness, no regret, no guilt," he told her as she looked back up at him he could see her fighting to listen to him. "And no tears. You'll ruin your makeup." It was Imelda's turn to roll her eyes before he pulled her into a sweet, gentle kiss. She loved the way he kissed her. Like she was still desirable, and he was still hungry for her. It made a fire light in her chest that hadn't been lit for years. "You'll get to show me what I've missed! I just hope that the security guards don't tackle me on sight. I know they now feel guilt about every arrest after figuring out I was murdered. They might take pity on me, as you've done."

"Pity indeed," Imelda huffed as she pulled open their bedroom door, and walked out. Hector followed her out, and closed the door behind him. "It was more guilt than anything. Plus your little puppy dog eyes are hard to resist."

"Really?" Hector asked as they walked down the stairs into the kitchen where the rest of their family was waiting. They were all in their best clothes, and were ready to cross over the bridge. Hector himself had his mended vest, striped pants, straw hat, and his new Rivera shoes, that Imelda had made for him, and he couldn't find himself to take the shoes off. The shop had closed hours before, so they had time to prepare, and they were all happy for this Dia De Muertos. For some reason, it felt different than past time. It felt more relaxed, and they all felt more connected than they ever had before. They all suspected Hector had something to do with it, or the fact that Coco was smiling her old smile at them again.

"Yes really," Imelda said as she stomped around her family, that crowded the kitchen, to the front door. Hector jogged to catch up to her as the rest of the family followed behind. He smiled at Coco and gave her a wink as his wife continued, "When you beg for something, it's almost impossible not to give you what you want. I have to admit that it was more effective in life, but it still works the same." She walked to the gate that lead onto their property, and opened it. The squeak it caused made Pepita look up from her sunbath on the roof, and she flew off of it to join the Rivera family on the ground. If it had been a year ago, Hector would have been terrified to see the giant alebrije walking alongside them. But after the jaguar alebrije had recognized him from life, she had turned into a bigger version of the cat he had known before. The one that had curled up next to a sleeping Coco in her crib, the one that had warned them when she sensed a major storm about to happen outside, and the one that had comforted his Imelda when he had mysteriously disappeared. Imelda told him about the times she cried about him in the late hours of the night, and how Pepita was her only companion during that time. Hector mentally thanked the alebrije for comforting her through those times of sorrow.

"Are you saying I'm ugly as a skeleton," Hector smirked when Imelda turned on him in alarm.

"No!" She cried as they walked towards the packed streets that led to the gates for the separate graveyards. "I'm just saying that your big nose and big ears made it more irresistible."

"So you're now saying that my nose was bigger than average size," He said as he tried to look sad through his smiled. He heard Oscar and Felipe and his Coco quietly sniggering behind him, and his expression was enough to fool Imelda.

"No!" She cried again as she gave a frustrated groan, "I'm not trying to insult you. I'm just pointing out what I noticed the most. No! What I liked the most. I'm not saying that I would like you to be ugly… because you're not. Santa Maria! I'm digging myself a hole."

"Imelda, mi amor, calm down," Hector smiled warmly at her, "I'm just messing with you. You're cute when you're flustered."

"I'm not flustered," Imelda barked as they made their way to the gate that lead to Santa Cecilia's graveyard. They all immediately got in line, and the entire time Imelda was arguing over the fact that she wasn't flustered in a flustered state. She then turned to her brothers, who were laughing at her, and gave them a piece of her mind. Through the whole fiasco, Hector had been watching her with lovesick eyes. She was gorgeous in everything she did, and her voice was even more beautiful when it raised in volume at people who were annoying her. It was hard not to watch.

The Riveras eventually got to the front of the line, and Victoria rolled her eyes at her grandmother and grand uncles before stepping in front of the camera to get scanned. She was given the all clear, Julio was given the all clear, Rosita was given the all clear, Coco smiled as she was given the call clear, and Oscar and Felipe ran away from their angry sister to get scanned themselves. The twins ran away from her again when she stomped over herself. The lady behind the camera looked rather nervous when she saw Imelda's scowl, but scanned her anyway. _If this doesn't work_ , she thought with irritation as she remembered last year which quickly diminished when she heard the familiar sound of the entrance beep. She was happy on the inside as she walked through the gate, but looked worriedly back at Hector as he smiled back at her.

Hector wasn't sure what to feel. He didn't want to get his hopes up if it didn't work, but he also couldn't stop the hopeful feeling crawling into his nonexistent heart. He was going home, he wanted to go home, but he had to get past the scanner first. The lady behind the scanner gave him a raised, unamused eyebrow as he walked up. She had been the one to scan him for years, and he knew that she thought this act was getting old. She had been the one each year to tell him he had no photo on an ofrenda, but she had also told him as gently as she could which he had greatly appreciated. He gave her a nervous chuckle as she pressed the buttons to scan his face. He couldn't help the happy feeling that engulfed him when he heard the noise of acceptance. The lady behind the scanner smiled in surprise.

"Enjoy your visit Hector!" She cried, and he gave a relieved sigh. He thanked her as he too crossed the border. He was home free. He had gotten past the scanner. His photo was on an ofrenda. He could go home. He had been waiting for this for years, and he was amazed at himself for holding in his excitement.

He smiled his brightest smile when he saw Imelda walk over to him with her own relieved smile. She was the one who leaned up to press a small kiss against his lips. Hector knew it was her way of showing how happy she was for him. He also knew it was a way for her to finally come to terms with her past mistakes. He hoped she could push past that, and look into their new future.

"Papa," Coco waddled her way over to her parents, and Hector was overcome with the love for his daughter.

"Coco," he laughed happily as he pressed kiss after kiss against his daughter's face. She giggled as he pulled her into a hug, and then spun her around in the air. He knew she wasn't anything like how he left her, but she was more than he could ever hope to have. She was a caring mother, grandmother, and she had helped her own mother run the shoe shop for a good amount of her life. She was precious in every way.

Hector smiled happily as he took a hold of Coco's and Imelda's hands before walking towards the bridge. He saw the rest of their family waiting for them there, and started to fear the feeling of falling through those petals… again. He had done it multiple times before. Maybe the fact that a buzzer made a pleasant noise instead of an alarming one wasn't enough to keep him from falling through.

But when he felt as light as air, he knew the buzzer had rung for a reason.

It felt like he was walking on clouds as he stepped carefully in his new shoes. Coco was experiencing this feeling for the first time as well, and was marveling at the petals that she could stand on in her sandals. Imelda pulled them along towards the rest of the family where Imelda clasped her free hand around Oscar's and Coco clasped her own hand around Rosita's. Hector snuck a look and grin towards his smiling daughter as they made their way across. Hector couldn't believe he was finally going back to Santa Cecilia. It had been years and year since he had seen the town, and he wasn't dumb enough to think it hadn't changed. He knew it would hurt when he saw how much it had changed without him, but he was stomp through it. He would probably be able to recognize some of it, and if all else failed… at least he would be able to see Miguel again. The little mijo was probably blooming into quite the musician already, and Hector wished to hear him play and sing like they had during the music competition in the Plaza De La Cruz last Días De Muertos. Oh, how long it had been…

When they reached the top arch of the bridge, Hector stopped dead. Changed didn't even describe how Santa Cecilia looked. It had tripled in size, and was brighter and more lively than anything he remembered. It looked like a makeshift Mexico City more than the town he had left. He knew he had tried to prepare himself for this new sight, but he couldn't help but feel his heart deflating as he saw the large town.

Imelda looked up knowingly at her husband's expression before letting go of her brother's hand. Her brothers looked at each other before nodding their understanding of Hector's situation. Coco looked up sadly at her father before her uncles gestured for her and the rest of the confused family to follow them. They took one final glance at their matriarch and patriarch as they stood still in the middle of the bridge before following the twins down the bridge. Coco was the last to look back before her husband Julio tugged her through a barrier of orange light at the base of the bridge.

Imelda paid no attention to the annoyed or confused eyes that passed them on the bridge as she cupped her husband's face.

"I know a lot has changed," she told him, "I've watched all the shops, houses, and places we knew either remade or crumble. It's hard to see, but it's got its positives." Imelda looked out at the barely set sun before she got an idea. "And there is one place that will never change. Come on." She took his hand, and dragged him down the bridge. Hector didn't know what Imelda's plan was, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to change her mind like he couldn't change this town back to the way it was. They walked down until the petals met the ground of the Land of the Living, and Hector gasped as his wife met a wall of orange light and pushed through. He pulled his hand back before it could touch it, and he stared wildly at Imelda as she looked at him from the other side. She was coated in an orange light that seemed to be attached to her bones. He could see the glowing outline of her ribs and legs through the fabric of her dress, and he felt himself getting hot. She rolled her eyes at him before pulling him by the bandana around his neck through the barrier.

Hector felt his bones tug at the shield of light before breaking through. He felt lighter as he opened his eyes he didn't know he had closed. His bones were glowing the same way Imelda's did, and they seemed to be see through. Hector almost expected his hands to go through each other. Imelda laughed as he admired his transparent bones before taking a hold of his hand again, and leading him through the graveyard.

He remembered when this graveyard was only a few tombstones, and when it didn't have an elaborate wall around it. He also remembered when it didn't have a giant mausoleum in the middle of it. He growled when he saw his old friend Ernesto De La Cruz smirking in the form of a marble bust above to doorway to the grand structure. He also saw the words 'Remember Me' carved below him, but his spirits were finally lifted when he read the wooden sign that had been nailed to the bottom of the stone bust. 'Forget You' in bright white, painted letters shone for all of Santa Cecilia to see, and Hector was glad to see that no one had bothered to redo the Dias De Muertos decorations from last year.

"It seems he's actually getting what he deserves here," Imelda seemed impressed before she tugged him along again. They were almost jogging as they moved out of the graveyard and down street after street. Hector immediately knew that Imelda knew her way around, but if he was envisioning the only layout of the town he had grown up in, he knew where she was going. Out of town.

"I'm not very good with this new city," Hector said as they started walking past the last building of Santa Cecilia, and into the country, "But isn't the rest of the family that way?"

"We're not going there just yet," Imelda said as she continued to tug him along. He just shrugged his shoulders and went with it.

Hector, as they moved deeper and deeper into the country, noticed that even the farm lands that he used to know had changed. He knew the old farmer Pablo, who had used to own this land, never plowed his fields up and down and prefered to do them left to right. He had known the family of dairy farmers who had owned a herd of cattle on that hill, but now a horse barn and a white picket fence took its place. He had known the creek he and Ernesto had used to go frog hunting in, and it was now all bone dry.

That didn't mean that he didn't like the sights he was seeing. He was actually enjoying it a lot more than trying to figure out what he had missed. He loved feeling actual plants under his feet, and the natural wind in his face, and the sight of the moon as it climbed higher in the sky. It was so calm and peaceful, and so unlike the bustling city of the Land of the Dead he had grown so used to. Everything here seemed to take a step back, and take a good, long breather. The only sounds he could hear were the rustling trees, the chirping crickets, and the taping of Imelda's boots along the gravel. He could smell the evening air, the freshly mowed grass, and the country life. He felt truly relaxed in a world that was no longer his own.

Imelda smiled at him as she suddenly took a sharp right. Hector watched her take a trail that had been beaten down by multiple people walking there before, but, since it was still a trail, it seemed to have some secrecy still. Hector willingly followed his lovely wife down the trail that led up a hill, and into a line of foresting trees.

He recognized this place. How could he not? He and Imelda used to come here all the time when they were young. This was the perfect place to sneak away to because Imelda's parents always told her never to leave town, so they never expected her to be bold enough to disobey their wishes… well, until she decided to marry him. He remembered playing hide and seek among the trees, picking wild flowers along the roots, and having their first date on this very cliff. This was also the place he had proclaimed his love for her, and the place where they had shared their first kiss… He would never forget the sight of her blushing cheeks, and the first feeling of having her sweet, soft lips against his own. It had been like flying for a few seconds, and then touching back down.

Hector panicked when he momentarily lost sight of Imelda among the shrubbery while he had drifted into his thoughts, but when he found her again, he stopped dead.

Imelda was sitting on the edge of a cliff, and the moon was directly in front of her from his angle. He could only see her silhouette against the ball of light as she looked peacefully out beyond the cliff. It was when she turned to look at him and he saw her eyes glowing with the reflecting of the moon did he feel his knees growing weak. He saw her gesturing to the spot next to her on the cliff, and he gratefully obeyed.

He sat down next to her, and let his feet dangle. They couldn't die anymore, so they weren't as afraid of this long drop as they used to be. Hector could barely make out the foggy bottom of the cliff, but Imelda's finger beneath his chin made him look at sights more pleasing to the eye.

The view.

That was what Imelda had talked about when she said somethings didn't change. The view was just as breathtaking as it ever was before. They could see little lights in the distance which marked far away civilization, the moonlight bouncing off the large rivers that ran all the way through Mexico, and the mountains that shielded their view further. When could a mountain move? When could a river change its course? When could a city just get up and walk somewhere else? Nothing had really changed. Everything was still where it was, but somethings have just gotten bigger and updated. Hector knew that the major changes of Santa Cecilia were still hard to comprehend, but he now had proof that the people that lived there would change but the land would stay the same. Hector couldn't help but sigh when he looked at the clump of lights nearest to them.

Santa Cecilia looked the exact same as it always had from up here. Just a clump of lights a little ways away. Lights that lit up his soul, and brightened his smile. He could feel the warm feeling of acceptance as he took a hold of Imelda's hand.

"Thank you for showing me this," Hector told her, "This means a lot. I almost forgot, but I knew I would never be able to forget this place. Something would always make me remember. Or someone..."

"I'm glad to be that someone," Imelda smiled as she gave his cheek a kiss. He relished the touch, and could almost picture those same lips and hands over a hundred years ago in this exact spot doing this for the first time. It was always nice to remember…

"So that's the new bakery," Imelda pointed out as she gave Hector a tour of the new Santa Cecilia. They had stayed a while up on that cliff, but they only had one night of the year to visit family. They could go find somewhere to sit in silence in the Land of the Dead, but they couldn't see their living family in the Land of the Dead. "And that's the clothing store… and that's here's the plaza. Funny they usually had a De La Cruz statue here. Guess they had some sense to take it down."

Imelda pointed to the hollow foundation of concrete where she knew Ernesto's statue used to be, and was quite happy to see it had been removed. She guessed her one particular great great grandson had something to do with it.

Hector started walking around the plaza, and marveled at all the living musicians who had gathered for the holiday. There were all sorts of instruments, ages, and songs in the plaza, and it brightened up Hector's mood even more. That was what he loved about music. It brought people together. You didn't need to know a certain language or a certain culture to listen to music. Whoever was playing it and wherever it was playing, anyone could understand it. They would be able to understand its mood, the feeling, and the beat. It was such an easy thing to do that Hector believed it was apart of a human's instinct.

Hector pulled his attention away from the music when he heard what his wife had said. Ernesto had even had a statue here too. The one in the plaza in the Land of the Dead was bad enough, but to ruin this place with his smug smile would have been gastly. Hector agreed with Imelda, and was happy they had torn it down. He looked down at the concrete were it used to be, and noticed flowers and pieces of paper at the base. Hector's first thought was that they were some of Ernesto's desperate fans, but on closer examination he found his thoughts to be false. Hector could feel tears welling up when he picked up one of the pieces of paper that turned out to be a little note. He almost didn't noticed that it turned into a completely new, slightly transparent copy when he picked it up as he read it:

 _Rest in peace Hector Rivera. Your songs will go down in history as some of the finest ever created. May your unfortunate end be the end to your sorrow, and may your family live in the luxury they deserve._

He felt his tears falling as he picked up another one that was written on nice, purple paper in black pen:

 _I've always like Ernesto De La Cruz's songs, but I felt he put too much into them. Like he was trying too hard. After realizing that they were in fact not his songs and that he was a cheating, thieving, cowardly murder, I came to love the songs even more. I've been working with the board of governors in Mexico to get your songbook out of a dusty museum, and into the hands of someone who can make something grand with it… like your great great grandson. Miguel's taste for music has thrived, and I believe he will be the next big thing. He will make sure that your songs are published the right way._

Hector felt the tears as he looked at each and every one of the dozens of notes and gifts to him placed around the base of the old statue. He didn't know how, but somehow his family in the Living world had revealed the truth about his disappearance and everyone now knew that the famous songs were his. That explained the mess Ernesto's tomb was in, and that explained why his statue was gone. People knew who he was, and what had happened to him. He wasn't in the dark.

"Oh my goodness," Imelda said, and Hector slightly jumped. He hadn't even noticed that Imelda had sat down next to him to read the notes. "These are beautiful, and so caring. How did Miguel manage…?"

"I don't know," Hector sniffed helplessly as he hugged some of the notes to his ribbed chest. "But this… this is something I never, ever expected."

"And I believe there are more coming," Imelda gestured with her head behind him, "Look."

Hector turned to see a little girl, around the age Coco was the last time he had seen her alive, running over to the base of the old statue. Hector felt a warm presence as the girl ran right through him to place her note at the very top. She giggled happily before running away to join her mother and father, who was holding a guitar, as they made their way across the plaza. Hector picked up the girl's note almost immediately. He had to squint to make out her newly learnt handwriting:

 _Senor Rivera, I really like your doodles! The drawings you drew on your letters! They are really pretty! From, Luna_

This made Hector stop for a moment.

Letters?

What letters?

Hector scratched his chin for a minute as he thought of what she could mean. He had written a lot of letters in his day, but he was trying to figure out which ones the girl was referring to. He did love to doodle, but he hadn't done it in a while. The last time he remembered having the time for doodles was when he was on his tour with Ernesto when he was still alive. He had written letters to Coco with little decorative drawings on them because children responded more to pictures than words. He loved hearing her replies, but he never got another one for years. Where would this little girl have seen his doodles? Maybe Coco had kept his letters like he had kept his ripped face of the family photo.

Hector got up, and dusted himself of dirt before reaching down to help Imelda up. He then proceeded to bat some dirt away off her skirt before addressing her.

"Let's go see our family," he said, and Imelda nodded. She took his hand as she lead him through the streets again. He passed by people, alive and dead, who were talking to each other and having a good time. It almost reminded him of Dias De Muertos in Shantytown. He hadn't attended his unofficial cousins' parties often because of his extreme attempts to cross the bridge, but the years he had come back he bathed in the love that it produced. It was a wonder that people that were so close to being forgotten would have so much love and pride.

"Here we are," Imelda pronounced, and Hector looked up.

The Rivera property was huge! He looked through the large, wooden double doors that lead into the compound, and looked around. There were at least three buildings that made up the property, and there was a courtyard in the middle. Hector immediately recognized the house that he and Imelda had made all those years ago, and noticed the well they used to use was now boarded up. He could also tell that their house had changed substantially. The complete inner workings had been hammered out in order to make room for all the equipment used for making shoes. They had transformed the house into a shoe shop, and had built another house for living purposes. The last building was a barn looking structure that seemed to be a storage container for materials they used for making shoes. It was all a wonder to him that this had blossomed from what he and Imelda started.

He then noticed a billboard like structure that stood outside the business area of the workshop, and was blown away by what he saw. His Coco _had_ kept his letters! They were hanging in frames for all to see, and Hector realized this was how the girl knew he doodled. He could see his old drawings of church houses, flowers, and little animals he had seen during his travels. He turned to look at Imelda who was also staring at the letters. She shook her head as she laughed.

"I told her to get rid of them," she confessed, "I told her she had no business keeping the lies that her papa had written to her, but I regret that order along with many others. She gained by stubbornness I suppose because she kept them. Oh Coco." Hector chuckled too. He was happy his Coco had gotten her mother's attitude because it had gotten the older woman through some tough times. It made her that much more loveable.

Imelda tugged him into the lively compound, and he was immediately drawn to the sound of music. He saw Miguel! Miguel was dancing, singing, and playing Hector's guitar in the middle of the compound. He looked a little taller than he had a year ago, and a lot happier than Hector remembered him being in that last moments they had together. He had been shaking and losing life in those last moments, so it wasn't that hard to guess why he was happier. Hector guessed that the person who wrote the note to him in the plaza actually succeeded in getting his song book out of a museum because the song that Miguel was singing was one of his half finished pieces: Proud Corazon.

Miguel was wearing what appeared to be a completely new, red mariachi uniform with golden lining. It looked good on him as he twirled around in such joy that it made Hector smile just looking at it. His large hat looked a bit big for him, but Hector knew he'd grow into it. He'd grown into a fine musician, and he had even made an end to this song. Hector had been working for months on it, and hadn't been able to figure out a good ending. Miguel had done it in a heartbeat.

"There you two are," Felipe said as he came over to them.

"You have been missed," Oscar smirked at them. Imelda just rolled his eyes, and pushed his face away from her's.

"By the way Imelda, Elena made your favorite," Felipe told his sister as he gestured to the bun he had in his mouth. "They're nice and warm, and are in the ofrenda room."

"Hopefully you guys left me some," Imelda sighed.

"We're not dumb enough not to," Oscar promised. Imelda just turned her back on them, grabbed Hector again, and pulled him into the ofrenda room.

It took Hector a minute to adjust his eyes to the new light. He looked around at the glowing candles, and the piles of offerings on the table in front of him. The ofrenda room was small but elegant. He looked at the detail that went into making it look perfect with the orange candle light reflecting off the already orange marigold petals and the glass coverings on each photo. Hector counted at least twelve pictures on the ofrenda, and that included Rosita, Oscar, Felipe, Julio, and Victoria's pictures all on the upper rows of the stacked table. At the very top he noticed Coco's photo, and he realized again how contagious her smile was when he looked at her old, wrinkled face. The photo right next to hers was their family photo.

Imelda reached up to the top of the ofrenda table, and took down the glowing, orange version of the portrait. Hector got a closer look at it when it was in her hands, and his smile immediately widened. Even though he noticed the tape that was over the rip around his photographed face that Imelda had caused years ago, he didn't look at it for long. He hadn't seen what Imelda looked like when they were alive for so long. He had almost forgotten her face, but held onto it with all his might. He missed her actual hair, her soft lips, her warmer eyes, and her dark skin which was softer than silk. But he'd missed _her_ the most. Her laugh, her loving embrace, her angry rants, her protective, motherly nature, and just her personality in general. He was happy to be in her good graces again, and not have to watch her from behind a neighbors house like a stalker just to be within a few feet of her. He also saw little Coco sitting in her mother's lap, and her face reminded Hector of the fuss she had made when we told her to sit still for so long. She hadn't been happy about that. He would relive every temper tantrum, every argument he had with Imelda, and his own, painful death to have back those years where he hadn't been able to see her grow up. It had killed him to be away from the people that he loved, but having them all back, even without skin, was a blessing.

"Gosh, I feel old," Imelda sighed as she took looked at the photo, "I wish I still looked like that. You were kind of lucky honesty," Imelda looked up at Hector, down at the photo, and back up at Hector again, "You still look like you did in this picture."

"And you do too," Hector said as he got a good look at Imelda's skeleton face and her face in the portrait, "You look exactly like this photo."

"You're funny," Imelda said sarcastically as her hand absentmindedly pulled some hair out of her face, and he noticed how her hand ghosted over the grey hairs that were tied up in her braid, "I died in my seventies. I look nothing like this."

"That's where you're wrong," Hector said as he took the picture from her grasp, and put it behind his back so she couldn't see it. He noticed how her face contorted into a suspicious glare when he said 'you're wrong', and he couldn't help but smile at it. She was still the same. She hated to be wrong, "You're as gorgeous as the day I first laid eyes on you." He smiled wider when her face shifted from stern to surprised to shy in seconds. He took her hand with is remaining free hand to pull her closer, "You're absolutely beautiful Imelda." He leaned his head down, and Imelda got up on her tippy toes. He closed his eyes for the kiss, but Imelda had other ideas. She used her free hand to grab one of the buns from the ofrenda table, and shove it into his mouth. She laughed as his eyes widened in surprise and then pleasure when it bit down on the bun, and swallowed it. Imelda felt the light bulb go off in her head.

"You haven't had an offering before, have you?" Imelda asked.

"Nope," Hector's words were muffled through his full mouth, "I didn't get to eat very often in Shantytown. We only got to eat what the well remembered didn't want which was usually stale muffins, rotten meat, and the unique bottle of old beer every now and then, but this is delicious."

"I taught our granddaughter the recipe," Imelda said as she straightened out his vest, "She makes them almost as good as I did." Hector swallowed what was in his mouth before laughing.

"Stroking your own ego there, hum?" He asked, and Imelda rolled her eyes.

"No, I'm just being honest," Imelda said as she took a bun for herself, and took a bite out of it, "Come on, meet the rest of the family."

They walked out into the courtyard again, and Hector could make out some of the faces he had learned from Rosita and the photo album they had in the Land of the Dead. He saw his other great great grandchildren, Rosa, Abel, who were playing their own personal instruments, Benny and Manny, the twins that were running around the tables and people's legs, and baby Coco, who was being held in her mother's arms. Her mother, Lusia, was standing next to her husband, his great grandson, Enrique, and they were watching their son, Miguel, playing the guitar. He saw his older great grandson Berto and his wife Carmen halling in another plastic table from the barn, and his great granddaughter, Gloria, helping her mother set out food. His only living granddaughter, Elena, brought in a steaming tray of tamales from the kitchen, and Hector had to cover up a laugh as he saw what his dead granddaughter was doing.

Victoria and Elena were sisters, and sisters sometimes picked on each other. Apparently that trait could cross the boundaries of living and dead because everytime Victoria stepped through her sister Hector could see Elena give a shiver and look around. This amazed and amused Hector. The living and the dead were complete opposites, but there was still enough presence within Victoria for Elena to feel her. Victoria waved her hand vigorously around Elena's shoulder, and Hector had to let one chuckle lose when he saw Elena spin around 180 degrees trying to catch however was touching her. Victoria heard Hector's laugh, and she gave her first real smile towards him after finding out he found this prank as funny as she did. Her smile faltered however when she saw the stern look her Mama Imelda was giving her.

"I thought you had matured past this," Imelda grumbled, "You're more mature than your grand uncles. Why are you stopping now?"

"I've got to connect with my big sister some way, don't I?" Victoria said with a completely straight face as she adjusted her glasses. "This is the only way I've found so far, but if you've found a different way please let me know." She waved her hand around Elena's head this time, and Hector had to laugh out loud when Elena put on a snarl that reminded him a lot of Imelda before turning to the closest person which just happened to be her eldest son, Berto, and started yelling at him.

"See! Now look what you caused," Imelda sighed.

"She wouldn't be reacting this way if she hadn't grown up around you," Victoria reminded her, "She gets her snappy mood from you."

"Are you calling me snappy?" Imelda stated with annoyance, "You're only acting this way because your Papa Hector liked what you were doing. Why are you-"

"Imelda, mi amor," Hector rubbed her back, "Easy. Why can't she have a little fun? It's Días De Muertos, and it's a time to be with family. Let's not bicker, huh? Let's have some fun instead, but let's scratch pranks off the list for now."

"Works for me," Victoria stated before walking away like nothing had happened. Imelda was about to retaliate, but her husband bring her into a kiss stopped her. Hector, even in the middle of the kiss, picked up the familiar cords of Proud Corazon again when Miguel was asked for an encore. He could also hear Abel prepping his accordion and Rosa tuning her violin, and got an idea on how to lift Imelda's foul mood.

He pulled away just as he heard Miguel start to sing, and clasped Imelda's left hand with his right before bending over at the waist in a simple bow. "Will you dance with me, senorita?" he asked with a mocking, gentlemanly voice and a goofy grin, and he was happy to hear her real, genuine laugh.

"Of course, kind senor," Imelda giggled with her own bow like they were two school children, and they were honestly acting like they were. Hector smiled more, and pulled her by her arm to his chest. She let him lead to the rhythm of the music as she placed her other hand on his shoulder, and he placed his other on her waist. He guided her in a twirl, and he felt the memories of their wedding start to flood back. Holding her close in her beautiful, white dress as he spun her around as his new wife. He remembered Ernesto there getting a little too drunk, and the twins, when they were still shorter than him, attempting to dance with each other. It had been one of the best nights of his entire existence, and that memory was the only reason he didn't forget her face. He remembered those kind, tired, loving eyes looking up at him, and trusting him to catch her if she were to trip. Those eyes meant everything to him because they were the windows to her gorgeous, caring, fierce soul which was special in every way possible.

Imelda laughed more when he spun her around and caught her at a diagonal angle so only her heels touched the ground. He leaned down to press a quick kiss to her forehead before pulling her back up again. He held her against his chest again as they both twirled around and never once let their eye contact break. Hector only let his head turn slightly when he heard the singing and guitar get louder. He turned his head fully to see Miguel walking around towards them. He had the biggest smile on his face, and he looked so proud. _He should be proud_ , Hector thought, _he has excelled quickly in the last year_.

Hector took a chance, and detached himself from Imelda for a second to reach through Miguel, and grab a ghostly version of his prized guitar. This guitar was a special guitar and it wasn't because it was famous or old or rare, but it was because the skeleton that was now coming up beside him and smiling up at him with enough love to fill the oceans gave it to him. This had been his birthday present many years ago, and she had used the last of her families given money on him and not her. It meant a lot more than words could describe.

Hector's fingers seemed to have a mind of their own as they moved around the strings and cords. He knew this part of the song well, since he had written it, but he couldn't seem to get his hands to stop shaking. Even after being around his new family for a year, it still felt wrong. He too had tried to banish all music from his life while living in the Land of the Dead by himself because he knew that it would just remind him of what he had lost. He didn't want to be reminded of the great things he could have had, but messed up too soon. But the shaking stopped immediately when he felt Imelda's hand rest on his shoulder. He turned to look at her, and she nodded her head encouraging at the guitar. There was no hesitation as Hector timed perfectly with Miguel, and felt the familiar joy rush through him. He saw Miguel being hoisted up by his uncle and father, and Hector sang out the last three words of the song just to his beautiful wife.

"My proud corazon…"


	8. Finale

**Chapter 8:**

 **READ THIS IF YOU WANT THIS CHAPTER TO MAKE SENSE!**

 **For this chapter, I warn you in advance, if you don't want to read something depressing, don't read this! This is based at least a couple hundred years after the events at the end of the movie Coco. Miguel has died, his parents have died, his aunts and uncles and cousins have died, and even his little sister Coco has died from old age. The Rivera family has gotten huge, and have moved all over Mexico to spread their music and shoes. Ernesto De La Cruz is known as the biggest upset in Mexico's music history, and Hector Rivera is a name known by all. Older Coco and Miguel are almost just as famous since they were the ones who shed all the light on the conspiracy of De La Cruz's songs, and all three of them are very well remembered. But with the Rivera family spread everywhere and the ofrenda table becoming crowded, it is easy to lose someone's memory along the way…**

 **This is based off a comic by nami64 on DevianArt titled "imector comics" ( nami64/art/imector-comics-744067750). It hit me hard by how sad the concept was, but also by how true it was. Hector's famous and he's gotten back everything he ever wanted, but it can't last as long as he will. He is now one of the most beloved musicians in Mexico, but his family is not…**

"So then, I swung around on the fence post, and missed the bull's horns by millimeters," Hector's voice rang out around the large dining room, and he was the only one standing as the rest of the Riveras, besides his wife, were looking at him in awe from their chairs. Imelda just rolled her eyes as he continued his story. He as being very over dramatic, but the large group of family members around her were eating it up. "Those teenagers who tricked me looked at me like I sprouted wings are something. They hadn't expected me to get out so quickly after realizing it was a trap. I guess these annoyingly long legs came in handy for something."

"What did they do?" Miguel asked as he sat at the edge of his seat. Even as the old skeleton that he was, Hector could still see the childish spark Miguel's warm eyes. Miguel's oldest child, Josefina, nodded her head of white hair at her father's question. Miguel's wife, Maria, just shook her head with a smile as she finished her food. "Did they throw you back into the bullpen like before?"

"Nope," Hector smiled slyly, "They got-"

"Run over by the bull," Imelda smirked when the rest of her family turned to her in surprise, "The fence broke on impact with the bull's head and the bullies were the only ones that got hurt. If that's not irony, then I don't know what is."

"Ah," Hecto groaned, "That was my favorite part."

"I was there too, remember?" Imelda wagged her bony finger at him, "We both ran for the same tree when the bull started charging anything it could reach. The poor thing was old and could barely see. My father was one of the people called to help get the dang thing back in its pen considering we were one of the only families in town with horses." She had to stop talking because a yawn escaped her mouth, and it didn't go unnoticed by Hector. Skeletons didn't get tired very easily considering they were only bone and without a brain or muscles, and he knew that Imelda got enough sleep last night too because he had been there sleeping right next to her. But now that he was thinking about it… she had gotten more sleep than usual last night and the night before. She had gone to bed earlier, and had slept in longer than usual as well. The rest of the family had had to open the shop early without her because it had taken Hector a while to wake her up. She hadn't wanted to get up, and struggled to stay on her feet. He didn't want to think about it as he saw her recline in her chair and close her eyes, but she might be… he shuddered and shook his head at his own dark thoughts.

No.

She had time.

She was the matriarch of the famous Rivera family.

She would be remembered for years to come.

If Rosita, the twins, Julio, and the older members of the family were still around and healthy, why couldn't she be?

"You only had horses back then?" the youngest dead member of the Rivera family asked. He was Rosa's, Miguel's cousin's, great grandson, Juan, that hadn't lived past five because he had gotten deathly sick with pneumonia that had fill up his lungs with fluid until he couldn't breath. It had been just as tragic as Victoria's early death, but he was still very curious and happy as a skeleton.

"Yep," Imelda said through another yawn as she smiled at the child, "Cars didn't come around in Mexico until your Mama Coco was able to walk, and even then I never learned to drive one. I thought it was a waste of time if you could just walk from one end of town to the other in under 15 minutes, but obviously that has changed." Santa Cecilia had now grown into a large city from the time that she had lived there, and it now took everyone 15 to 20 minutes by car to get across town. She and Hector could point out new things every time they came over the Marigold Bridge to Santa Cecilia, and she didn't know whether to be happy or not about the change.

"Santa Cecilia used to be that small?" Juan gasped in shock.

"All towns start out that small, little one," Rosita told the child, "But they get bigger with age."

"But that's not the same for humans though," Julio butted in, "It's the exact opposite. You get shorter."

"That's only your problem papa," Victoria actually gave a smile as the rest of the family laughed at her comment. Julio laughed along with them, and defended himself that it wasn't just him that had this problem. While everyone was laughing, Hector watched Imelda collect the last couple dinner plates and walk into the kitchen. Hector got up to follow her, but made eye contact with his brothers-in-law first. The older set of twins looked between each other with a sad look, and were apparently not laughing at all. They weren't even showing a smile. They were usually the ones to crack the jokes, but they hadn't even lifting their heads from their laps before Imelda moved. They looked at Hector before looking where Imelda had vanished. They exchanged looks again like they were talking with their gestures, and shook their heads in depression.

Hector had never seen them act like this in all these years of knowing them. They had never been this sad, but he hadn't been there when Imelda passed away. Hector guessed that they were thinking the same thing he was thinking earlier. He gave them a reassuring smile that they didn't return before walking into the kitchen himself. He found Imelda at the sink rinsing dishes before putting them in the dishwasher next to her. They both had just recently learned how to use the dishwasher since they didn't have one ever in life. But now that Hector thought about it as he watched her expertly place dishes in the rack, they might have gotten that dishwasher years ago. He scratched his head in thought. Time did fly when you were having fun. He could barely remember his time in Shantytown now that he had been living with his real family for so long, and it hit him harder than that bull ever could have.

He had been with his wife in the Land of the Dead for a very long time. He had gotten to know her again over the centuries that had been given together. They had both gotten to watch their family grow and expand, and it had been his dream that he thought would never come true. But now that he looked down at his shiny, white bones that were well connected and well remembered, he started to realize that he had a longer amount of time than he wished for.

"Imelda?" Hector asked as he came over, and Imelda reacted slower than what he had hoped.

"Oh Hector," Imelda blinked slowly at him, and he was immediately reminded of Coco when he had first met her in the Land of the Dead. It had taken a moment for her to recognize him now that he was all bone and he knew she had been forgetting him for a long time, but it had gone uphill from there. This time it felt more like a diving slope. "I didn't hear you come in, lo siento." She turned back to the dishes, and he noticed her shoulders slump, and heard her breath out a tired sigh. He crept closer to her, and hugged her from behind. She leaned into him heavily, and he noticed, even through the skirts of her dress that her legs were shaking. He reached for a cloth nearby, and proceeded to dry off her hands. She didn't even resist him, and he found that by itself to be alarming.

She had always loved working.

It made her feel independent and capable and she loved being able to show up the competition in the shoemaking industry, but she was allowing him to stop her. It shook him to his very core.

He carefully guided her away from the sink, and he mentally sighed in frustration. He would have to past the rest of the family in the dining room if he hoped to get her to their room. It was the only bedroom on the first floor, but he would have to pass the dining room to get there. If he noticed that Imelda wasn't doing to well, he knew he wouldn't be the only one. The twins already knew, and he guessed Victoria with her quick wit would be able to figure it out. It was the only way, but he didn't want to alarm anyone about it.

He gently moved her through the threshold that connected the two rooms, and, as he predicted, he attracted a couple of the skeleton's attention. The twins were the first to notice, and proceeded to get up from their chairs and come over to him. Miguel and his Coco also noticed, and looked over at them sadly as Felipe helped Hector move Imelda across the room and Oscar persuaded a worried Rosita to stay in her seat. Victoria adjusted her glasses, and Elena, her sister, looked between their grandmother and her sister for an explanation. Hector wished he hadn't heard her words.

"She's being forgotten."

Felipe left his brother-in-law so he could help his own brother with the rest of the family while Hector helped Imelda take a seat on the bed. He kneeled down to help her take off her boots, but her hand stopped him. He looked up at her, and she gave him a tired smile.

"Hector," She started, and his heart splintered for what felt like the thousandth time when she had to close her eyes and take a deep breath to continue, "There is no need to worry. I'm fine. Go back to telling your amazing stories. I can take over from here."

Hector wanted to believe her. He wanted to give her a smile and say "Okie dokie!" before going back to making his family laugh, but he couldn't. She wasn't fine. It didn't take Pepita's excellent feline vision to notice that she wasn't in the best of health. He hated to think about it, but he now had a limited amount of time to be with her. He didn't want her to experience the shocking waves of orange light that he had to endure multiple centuries ago. He didn't want to see her lying in a bed without the energy to do what she loved. He didn't want to see her vanish in a blinding flash of light…

"No," He said as he gently but firmly took the hand she had presented to him. He could feel how her bones moved around with unusual ease at his touch, and he hated to see how they were now a darker color than his, "You're not alright Imelda. I don't know how or why, but… but…" He couldn't say everything he wanted to say. There was so much he wanted to tell her, but he knew he didn't have time to say it all. He rested his forehead on her knees, and he felt her other hand drifting under his hat and into his hair. He had to tell her what he needed to say, "I don't want to lose you again, mi amor. I can't lose you. I want to stay with you forever. I want us to go at the same time so neither of us have to live with the other one's departure. You gave me hope all those years ago when I was just a little orphan in Santa Cecilia. I thought I would never find happiness until I met you. You were my light in the dark Mel. Why does life hurt me so?" He clutched at her skirts as he felt her take off his hat, and lay it on the floor. He then felt her lips press against his hair, and her cheek laying on top of his head. He could feel his tears come as she gently stroked his skull and his messy locks. He hated how he felt her fingers tremble with each touch, and how her breathing shuttered. He couldn't lose her. He lost her once, and he had barely survived that. He couldn't. He didn't think he could mentally survive it. Oh why must the world be so cruel?

It had taken a lot of effort to get Imelda into her night dress, but it hadn't taken a lot of effort to get her to fall asleep. She rested her head on his ribbed chest, and clutched his clothing even in sleep. He didn't sleep for the entire night. He was too afraid that she would disappear if he even dared to even close his eyes. It had only taken him one night of this level of exhaustion to give into the glowing pains, and he hoped she would last longer. He kept telling himself he was already in terrible shape when his Final Death came around. She, however, was in good shape, and would last much long that he did, right?

He gently smoothed down her long hair, and made sure she was physically still there with him. He hated this feeling. The feeling that she could go at any minute, and he could do nothing to stop it.

He was so powerless.

He had always been powerless in both life and death. He never was better, or more handsome, or smarter than everyone else. He could never say what he pleased about a subject because there would always be someone to correct him, but this was different. He couldn't step in front of this boulder and push it back up the hill. He couldn't protect her from the tsunami about to crash down. He couldn't keep a good grip on her as she slipped from his grasp.

Hector whimpered sadly as she hugged Imelda close to him. She was too deep in sleep to even notice the tightening of his grasp or the whines that he let out all night. He sounded like a dying dog on its last leg or a lonely whale out in the middle of the ocean. He wished he had never become famous. He wished that he could be in the same situation as Imelda, dying from the forgetfulness of the family they created, but it was impossible. He would be remembered as long as Frida Kahlo, El Santo, or even his former friend Ernesto De La Cruz. This realization crushed him. He would have to endure Miguel going through this. He would have to see his little Coco vanish in orange light. He would have to see all the people he ever loved or cared about drift away one by one.

He was used to losing people, but not to this extreme.

The people he called family in Shantytown disappeared all the time, but this was at a completely different level. He had known this woman for almost his entire life. He had helped create the people that all slept soundly in this house around him. They were apart of him, and he knew with every Final Death a little bit of him would chip away.

In a way, he too was dying, but not in the way that was easier.

Imelda couldn't work the next day, or the next, or the next, and neither could Hector. Hector had made his new life living in a chair, watching over his wife. She slept a good portion of the day, and couldn't think fast enough to really talk when she was awake. It was like her entire mind was always on snooze mode. Hector couldn't remember him reacting like this. He had been prancing around the Land of the Dead with Miguel for hours before feeling the first flash of light. He hadn't felt this tired or sleepy before hand.

He brushed some hair out of his sleeping wife's face, and sighed sadly. Her beauty never ceases to amaze him, and he had to memorize her face before she was gone. He had almost forgotten it when he first died, and he refused to give her that amount of disrespect again. He needed to remember her himself because the people in the Land of the Living apparently couldn't do it for him. Who was the last person that remembered her? It must be one of baby Coco's children or grandchildren. Or it could be one of Miguel's considering he made sure that everyone who was alive remembered everyone who was dead. He couldn't figure out why the matriarch of the family was the first one being forgotten. He hated to think that he had something to do with it. He hated to think about it, but the people with fame usually outshone their spouses. No one remembered who the famous person married, did they? He hated to think that his fame was the cause of this injustice.

"You look sad," Imelda suddenly said, and Hector looked up to make eye contact with her and was surprised to see her awake, "You actually look really depressed."

"I have every right to be," Hector sighed as he looked into her brown eyes that had a lovely violet tint to them, "I'm so sorry Imelda."

"Why are you sorry?" She asked, "You can't control this. It was bound to happen eventually, and there is unfortunately nothing you can do to stop it. It's just life after death I suppose."

"But why you?" Hector asked desperately, "Why couldn't it be someone else? I know that sounds selfish, but you're the last person that the world deserves to lose. I don't know if I can handle this. I don't if I can-"

"Hector," Imelda said sternly as she covered his mouth with her hand, "You mustn't worry so much. You'll just end up hurting yourself. Try to relax, and live my last days with me in peace. As peaceful as they can be- ack!" Her entire body rattled with orange light, and she was forced to drop her hand. Hector sprang from his seat. He wanted to help her in anyway he could, but he knew he could do nothing. Seeing the orange light again brought back the traumatic moments before he experienced the Final Death, and he could barely look at her without remembering the pain that went with it. He hoped she wasn't in that amount of pain. He was just happy it didn't last very long. Her tensing bones fell back onto the bed, and he physically relaxed too as she grew still again. She opened her shut eyes, and looked over at him with more shock written on her face than anywhere else. "That was unexpected," she said with a smile, and a nervous chuckle. Hector sighed with both sadness and frustration. Why wasn't she taking this seriously?

"How are you so calm?" Hector asked, and he felt the tears falling down his cheeks for the hundredth time that day, "I'm a nervous, sorrowful wreck while you're smiling at everyone who comes to check on you. You're the only happy person in this entire house."

"Who says I'm happy?" Imelda asked as she shook out her weak bones after the shocking episode, "Who says that I want to leave? Who says I want to leave the family I care about so much for some other world that I don't know about yet? Who says that this smile is real? What I've learned Hector from many years of experience is that if you show joy, you can get it back in return. I don't want you to be happy I'm leaving, but I don't want you to be sad either. Let's enjoy this time together. Let's go somewhere. It doesn't have to be far, we can just got outside, but I don't want to spend the rest of my dead life in a bed." Hector's first thought was to retaliate and keep her in bed, but he knew he should listen to her. Her condition couldn't decrease with movement, but it was the most comfortable place to be. But if she wanted to go outside, than he would take her outside.

She relied heavily on him as he guided her out of their room, and back into the dining room and living room. They could hear the definite sound of hammers hammering and sewing machines sewing from the workshop as they walked past, and, even as orange light shook her bones again, it made a smile cross Imelda's face. She had started that. She would never be able to make another shoe again, but she could live with the fact that the business that she started still helped her family keep food on the table.

Hector held her tighter as they moved out of the house through the back door, and into the evening light. Pepita immediately noticed their presences, and hopped down from her spot on the house roof. The large alebrije walked over to them, and Hector noticed that she too was walking slower than usual. Did alebrije's vanish with their connected skeletons, or did they stay. Hector hoped they stated. His spirit guide left him long ago, but he hoped that Pepita could be his new spirit guide because his spirit would definitely need guiding.

He gently set Imelda down on the plastic grass of the lawn, and then sat down next to her. She leaned against his shoulder and closed her eyes as he draped his arm around her thin frame. She was shaking a sickening and considerable amount. She had little to no strength left. Her bones were giving up.

She sighed heavily as she opened her eyes again. He stared down at her the entire time. Don't blink, he commanded himself, don't blink or you might trigger it. Imelda, even in her weakened state, was able to glare at him.

"Don't give me that look," she scolded him, "Be the Hector I fell in love with for my final minutes. You can do that, right? Be the goofy, carefree Hector that made me laugh when I was crying. Be the Hector that smiles at any danger that tries to puncture him." Hector had to smile at that. He did need to give her what she wanted. He had been already, but he knew this meant more than breakfast-in-bed or anniversary parties. He gave her his biggest and best smile as he felt Pepita lay down behind them and gave them a back rest. He looked up into the stars that twinkled above, and got an idea.

"I see a… rabbit," He said suddenly, and Imelda seemed to be confused for a minute before her own smile sprouted and she started to laugh. She knew this game.

She looked up into the dark sky, and said: "I see a little bird."

"Where?" Hector asked, and she pointed to a group of stars to her right, "Oh I see it. Its got its wings spread out."

"Yep," Imelda said, and she didn't even flinch when her body shook with another spasum, "It can also be a rooster head if you look at it from a different angle. One of the wings could be the neck, and the other can be the crest, and head could be a beak."

"You have wonderful eyes, mi amor," Hector laughed as he looked around for another animal in the sky. This had been a regular game when they were young. It had surpassed tag and hide-and-seek by a ways. They would just find an empty field or lawn in the evening and find animal constellations. They never had astronomy in school, but it had been the next best thing. The would try to outdo each other's imagination, and find the funniest, wackiest thing possible. It had been an ongoing competition, but now it was there final game of partnership.

"Oh, I see an otter," Imelda stated as she pointed right above their heads, "See the winding tail?"

"It looks more like a lizard with an oversized head to me," Hector said as he turned his head back and forth trying to find it.

"Otters are cuter," Imelda said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"When have you cared about things being cute?" Hector asked, and laughed at the glare she gave him, "I thought you were the one to rip bows out of your hair when your mother wasn't looking."

"Fluffy cute and girly cute are two different things," Imelda said as her bones lit up again. They glowed even more in the darkness of the upcoming night, and Hector found that he could no longer try to ignore them. She breathed heavily as she tired to make the pain go down. This shock was longer than the rest, and he watched it drain even more energy from her already defeating body. He hugged her closer as she regained her breathing.

"Why do they call it the Final Death?" Imelda asked suddenly as she looked back up at the stars, "It's just the beginning of something else. It's the beginning of a new life for everyone else after you're gone. It doesn't make much sense, does it?"

"I've never thought about it that way," Hector said honestly as he watched the stars reflect their light off of her shining eyes. "I've always looked at death, any kind of death, as a bad thing."

"Well there's your problem right there," Imelda said as she tired to stay strong through yet another spasum, "That's why you're so sad. Think of it as a good thing. I will finally be able to relax like I did before I had a daughter."

"You were able to relax a lot more before we had Coco," Hector agreed as he convinced himself to look back at the stars like she was.

"Neither of us could relax a lot after she was born," Imelda said, "Or even the nine months before. You were always checking on me, and you didn't let yourself sleep for the last week or so. Thankfully your past that phase of worry."

Hector thought back to the last couple nights where he hadn't slept at all because he was watching over her. "Yes, thankfully I'm past that," he said, and he was happy she couldn't see his nervous smile. That smile vanished however when a burst of light hit her again, but this time it was way longer. Hector felt like balling out buckets of tears as he watched her teeth clench in pain. Why her? WHY HER? Out of everyone, her?! Why? WHY?

She must have sensed his anger because, with her last amount of strength, she reached over and took a hold of his hand. She brought it to her chest, and hugged it close. He used his other arm to give her another hug, and he could definitely feel how brittle and fragile she was becoming. Her bones were becoming course, and they were starting to glow with a faint light. He clung to her desperately, but the only thing he could truly get a hold of was the purple dress she was wearing.

She leaned up toward him, and he leaned down to her. The kiss that she planted against his own lips was brief, but it was filled with all the love she carried in her heart. Even through his closed eyelids he could see the glow of her bones.

"I love you," she whispered before his hands fell from vanishing light onto nothing but fake grass, the purple clothing, and her shining, polished boots…

 **After this one shot, I'm going to need to bleach my brain and write something super funny and lighthearted. I can guarantee the next one shot will be way happier than this. If people are confused about the logic concerning Imelda's disappearance before every other skeleton that is in the movie (Julio, Rosita, Victoria, and the twins), don't try to make it make sense. I knew I could only deal with one of these beloved characters disappearing, so I had the rest of them still alive and well even though Imelda would obviously last longer considering she is the matriarch of the family. Okay, I'm going to go cry in a corner now… *balls uncontrollably***


	9. Lovestruck

**Chapter 9:**

 **Whoa! It seems I've confused people with the title and plot of my last update. I'm not done yet people! Still got a lot of ideas in mind. I'll probably will never be done with this series even if I'm away for a while. Ideas pop into my head at the weirdest times.**

 **This one shot was requested by** _ **Toons Girl**_ **. This is more of a story about Oscar and Felipe than Imelda and Hector, but Imelda and Hector influence it a lot.** _ **Toons Girl**_ **asked me to make a one shot about Oscar and Felipe reacting to the beautiful, Mexican singer Dora Luz, who made many famous singles and was a guest star in Walt Disney's 'The Three Caballeros', and almost embarrassing the rest of the Riveras in the process. I had never heard of Dora Luz or the movie 'The Three Caballeros' before starting this one shot, and now it want to go watch it. I also think that Pixar and Disney based some of Imelda's look off of Senora Luz because they look strikingly similar. Enough of my blathering… here's Chapter Number 9:**

There was a sort of rhythm that the sound of shoe making made.

All the Riveras had memorized the tune, and had sung it passionately for years even if they denied that anything of such existed for a good amount of the shoe making shop's existence. But things were different now. In both the Land of the Living and the Land of the Dead, the music of shoe making was sung in not just passion, but love. Singing was allowed again. Music rang all the way through the Riveras family lifestyle, so now they were almost as famous for their songs as they were their shoes. Almost… Imelda Rivera would be very surprised if that ever happened. Music had only been a around in their household in the Land of the Dead for a year or so now, and even then they were still learning about it. Imelda had to remember all the cords and keys she used to know so well, Rosita and Julio were getting a brush up on their dancing from when they were children, Coco was remembering all the songs that her Papa used to sing to her, and Felipe and Oscar never got into music when it was allowed back when they were alive so they were learning it for real this time along with Victoria. The youngest of the dead Riveras will still having trouble figuring out why something she grew up learning to despise was now normal. Imelda took on the gradual understanding of music for Victoria as her own personal mission, while her husband, Hector, took on the fun side of it.

Hector had been a nonstop entertainer for them ever since he was allowed in the house. He was literally jumping off the walls in an effort to make his family members laugh, and it was working spectacularly. They couldn't go one family dinner without food coming through the hole where their noses used to be from laughing at the stories he told. Some of these stories were old and Imelda remembered them from when they were alive, or they were ones he had collected from his years living in the world that they, the dead, now called home. Her family only found the humor in the undead stories, while she picked them apart for the deeper emotions. During his story about trying to drive a van across the Marigold Bridge, Imelda found desperation for love and forgiveness. In the story he told about dodging his way out of a dangerous bar fight, she realized how hard life was for him during the years where he had lived with the nearly forgotten. She vowed to make up for all those hard years the best she could, and the thing he wanted most in life was to be accepted by his thriving family. She knew the way to any Rivera's heart was through love for their family and through something they could all connect to: shoes.

Hector had wanted to learn to make shoes ever since he had gotten back onto Imelda's good side. It had taken a while for her to come around, so he hadn't had as much practice as he would like… but he was getting there. Imelda, having been the first to know how to make shoes, was the best shoe making teacher there ever could be. She knew where a beginner should start, what their first project should be, and all the ins and outs of shoe making. Hector found it amazing that she had stored a 1000 page textbook's worth of information in her head. She was a very smart and witty person, he had known that when he had married her, but for her to have learned so much to keep their family afloat was unbelievable. She had gotten into something as peculiar as shoe making to raise a family, and it had been a fantastic choice for a business in the end. He had remembered her letters, and how she had spoken about starting a shoe making business after she had successfully learned how to fix Coco's broken, tiny shoe. Back then she had described shoe making as 'bearable', 'affordable', and 'a temporary try', but now, as he watched her explain stitching patterns on the soles of nearly complete shoes, he saw how she had grown to love it… as so he would too.

Hector was hardly paying attention to what Imelda was saying as the entire undead family worked in their workshop. He was watching Imelda's gorgeous face as she gestured to differently cut holes and talked about something concerning a needle and thread and then the sewing machine. Her bones moved with for more grace than his did, and they were shiny and smooth. Even though they all worked in a certain manner of dirt each day, Imelda found a way to stay completely clean and dirt free. She was a perfect, marble statue of elegance that was shown in shining moonlight for only the bravest to see, and he had been one of the brave ones to try and talk to her (considering she had scared every guy in town when they were alive, and had definitely scared quite a few skeletons from what he had heard). He just couldn't stop staring, and he knew it was rude, but he just couldn't help it. She attracted him like a moth to a beam of light.

"Hector!"

Hector jumped when he heard his name shout through the barrier of fuzzy thoughts that he didn't know he was building. He shook his head, causing his hat to fall slightly from his head, as he looked up at his wife. He smiled sheepishly up at her as she glared down at him.

"Were you even listening?" She asked, and he hated what the truth was.

"I'm sorry mi amor," he said as she looked up into her beautiful but somewhat terrifying face, "I just got caught in those beautiful, bright eyes of yours. They pulled me in, and I got lost among the galaxy of colors, stars, and planets that swirl around in those pools of light. It's not my fault that your eyes are so attractive." Imelda was taken aback. He was pleased to see her glare lessen, and her eyes soften. She hadn't completely cooled down from her angry outburst, but he could see the furious fire burning out gradually. He was proud that he, unlike everyone else in the world, could bring her out of her famous angry moods with just words. He hadn't always been able to do it though. He had to learn it over many years of courting her and spending time with her. There is a reason that the first song he ever wrote about her was called "Un Poco Loco".

Felipe and Oscar adjusted their glasses as they watched their sister and and brother-in-law from across the workshop. They continued to hammer nails into the soles of shoes as they listened to the older skeleton's conversation.

"It's funny we have to listen to this again after so many years, right hermano?" Felipe asked his brother in a hushed tone as he tilted his head at the weird, but sickly romantic, couple.

"Indeed," Oscar agreed as he too kept his voice down. Their sister had ears like that of a fox, "I thought we had gotten over this a while ago, and now it's even worse. We have to sit through their 'beginning to find love' stage again, and I almost threw up last time."

"Thankfully we don't have stomachs anymore or else I would be throwing up," Felipe said as he pushed the pair of newly nailed shoes over to their niece, Coco, who started to reposition the leather into a more presentable style, "Do they have to do this in public?"

"Technically they are not in public, or else I would being doing something about it," Oscar said as he pointed outside, "The public is that way."

"Ha! I dare you to do something!" Felipe laughed, "I dare you to go up to Imelda, and tell her to stop doing what she chose to do." Oscar shuttered at the thought.

"Why would I do that?" Oscar asked as he looked uneasily at the couple, "Are you asking me to write a suicide letter?"

"We're already dead. It would be irrational," Felipe smirked as he took the new pair of shoes that Julio gave them, handed one to his brother, and then began to hammer nails again. "But on a serious note… how are they still going? I mean usually spouses get over this flirting phase in their relationship before they are married, but they are still going after more than a hundred years. What's up with that?"

"I think it's what those American Disney princesses call 'true love'," Oscar gagged at the thought, "And it doesn't happen in reality all that often, maybe never."

"Imagine if we were in a Disney movie," Felipe laughed, "I bet we would be part of some moral about how shoe making is the root of all happiness and love or something. What a joke!"

"But then we would probably be able to find that perfect someone," Oscar sighed, "Someone that is perfect in every way because you could never find someone like that in reality. That could be a bonus."

"I guess, but that's impossible," Felipe waved off the notion, "They would have to be beautiful, skilled, and would have to be able to tell us apart. Only Imelda and Hector have mastered that so far. Even mama couldn't tell us apart!"

"She would also have to be a good singer," Oscar thought out loud as he completely ignored Felipe's last statement. It brought on too many horrible memories, "I would love to have good music at my fingertips."

"Yeah, there is no one that fits that description here in the Land of the Dead," Felipe nodded.

The doors to the workshop sprang open.

The Rivera family looked up to see who had just entered their prized workshop, and Felipe and Oscar's jaws almost fell straight to the floor.

The most beautiful skeleton they had ever seen stepped in with the clicking of heels. She was tall and lean and had a twinkle in her eyes that reminded them of stars. She had silky smooth hair that was curled over her hairline and into a bun at the base of her neck, and she wore bright, red lipstick. She also wore a white, puffy dress with a purple trim that clung to her waist (*cough, cough* spine), and had light pink and gold facial markings around her eyes and on her cheeks that reminded them of flowers. They all also noticed the bodyguards that were stationed outside, so they knew their new guest was important.

"Hola mi Rivera's, ow!" this new senora sang with a voice that sounded like water lilies dancing on a pond, "I have just been dying to meet you all, no pun intended. Ha!"

"Why Senora Luz, what a pleasure it is to see you again," Hector smiled at the lady, and rest of the Riveras turned to him in shock, or in Imelda's case suspicion, as he addressed the mystery woman. Hector smiled uneasily at he saw all eyes, especially Imelda's, turn to him with a variety of emotions. He quickly explained. "This is Dora Luz everyone. I know her from our monthly musician get togethers in the Music District. She was, and still is, a marvaless and famous singer. She starred in movies and made so many amazing songs."

"Oh shucks darling. You're going to make me blush!" Dora Luz waved her hand across her face like she was batting away the heat even though they all knew skeletons can't blush, "I had to clear my calendar as soon as possible to come check out this wonderful shoe making shop that you raved about last month. It really is as humble and sweet as you made it out to be."

"And that is all the handiwork of my dear family," Hector gestured around at his frozen-with-shock family, "They helped raise this business from the ground up, but most of the work was done by-"

"Miss Senora Imelda Rivera!" Dora sang loudly which made all of them jump, "You're husband said you were beautiful, but I didn't know you were that beautiful. Sike! Of course I did. I saw you during Ernesto De La Cruz's Sunrise Spectacular Show the other year. You have some lovely pipes girl! I would kill for that kind of a singing voice." Imelda was extremely shocked.

"Um, thank you," Imelda said under her breath, and the twins knew that look as Imelda being shy. It almost made them laugh! This gorgeous skeleton was both beautiful, skilled, and could result Imelda to speechlessness. She was almost as perfect as any fairy tale!

Felipe and Oscar turned to glare at one another.

"She's mine!" Felipe whispered frantically, but his brother wouldn't allow it.

"No, she's mine," Oscar whispered back, "I saw her first."

"I heard her shoes first," Felipe said, "And I figured out what her shoe size was first."

"How could you tell that?" Oscar asked, "I figured it out first! She wears-"

"Size 4 and a half," they both said at the same time.

"I said it first," Felipe snarled.

"No I did!" Oscar growled back.

"No I-" Felipe was cut off when a well crafted boot hit him square in the face and resulted in him tipping over onto the floor. Oscar only had a moment to laugh before the second boot of the pair came and hit him too. Both brothers crumbled to the floor, and their sister grumbled in irritation.

"I'm so sorry about them," Imelda smiled at Dora as she set her now bare feet on the floor, "They don't understand when they cross the boundary from aggravating to disrespectful. So, how may we help you this fine afternoon Senora Luz?"

"Oh please, call me Dora," Dora Luz said.

"Alright then. What can we do for you Dora?" Imelda said in her business woman voice as she cautiously looked at her brothers in her peripheral vision as they clung to the table they worked at to get back up.

"Well Imelda. With Ernesto De La Cruz out of business and the Land of the Dead screaming for more music, my agent approached me with a new concert idea for this years new Sunrise Spectacular Show which will be hosted by yours truly, Frida Kahlo, and El Santo. Don't ask me why El Santo wanted to help in a _music_ show. He just showed up and asked if he could help. Anyway, I'm in need of some knew killer shoes for this show, and who better to make them then the famous Riveras?"

"Oh how wonderful," Rosita said as she clapped her hands enthusiastically, "It's so nice to hear that they are filling that stadium with more music and not leaving it to be forgotten."

"What exactly do you want in your order?" Imelda asked as she took out her reading glasses, placed them on what she had left for a bridge of a nose, and also took out her notepad and pen from her shoe making apron.

"Well, I need three, new pairs because we are showing this performance three different times, so everyone in the Land of the Dead can see it! We've got one airing the sunrise before Dias De Muertos, the sunrise after, and the sunrise of, so I need to do multiple costume changes. Each pair will be different depending on what dress I'm wearing. I need a pair of knee high boots, a pair of sandals, and a pair of traditional heels," Imelda scribbled furiously on her notepad, "They will all be made out of the same leather: sheep leather." Imelda immediately stopped writing.

"I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news, but sheep leather is very hard to come by," Imelda said as she twirled her pen around through her fingers, "And it is even more expensive to buy. Since sheeps are usually used all the way through their lives for wool, their leather tends not to be great for shoe making at the end of their days. Also, all the sheep around here _are_ dead so they have nothing to give material wise. I don't even know where we'd start looking."

"Oh don't worry Senora Rivera," Dora brushed off her worry, "I've already got the leather." She pressed her fingers to her lips before blowing out a whistle. One of the large bodyguards wearing suits and sunglasses came in with a roll of white, clean leather in hand, and set it down on Imelda's workstation."It was difficult to find, as you've said, but totally worth it." There was enough leather there to make ten pairs of shoes if they were all done correctly the first time and didn't need to be redone, so Imelda was, again, resulted to speechlessness.

"Oh my, that's quite a lot Senora Luz," Victoria said as she adjusted her glasses to get a better look at the roll, "We won't need all that just for three pairs of shoes."

"Than take the rest as my gift to you," Dora said as she winked over at Victoria. "I won't be able to find a use for it any how, but I know you all will."

"Well thank you," Julio said as he took the leather, with help from his daughter, off of the workstation surface, and took it to the back room to keep it moist and bendable.

"That is very generous of you Dora, thank you," Imelda said herself before she looked over her notes through her glasses to make sure she got everything. "Well I believe your order is all ready to get started. We just need to get your _exact_ size," Imelda glared over at her brothers before raising her voice to call her granddaughter back into the main room.

"Yes Abelita?" Victoria asked as she straightened out her dress.

"Please take our new customer to get sized up for her shoes," Imelda said as she took off her glasses and put them back into her apron, "Then we will get going on your order as soon as possible."

"Splendid," Dora Luz said. She was about to follow Victoria into the next room, but stopped when she caught sight of the tall twins with now crooked bowler hats and ruffled mustaches. She walked over to them and rearranged their hats and flattened down their mustaches from where they had been messed up from their fall. "Aren't you two just adorable," Dora squealed before patting them both on the cheek and then following Victoria into the next room. The twins stood dumbfounded for a moment before looking at one another.

"She touched me first!" Oscar said passionately.

"But she looked at me first," Felipe countered.

"Very unlikely considering you can't keep eye contact with a single person for more than five seconds before your mind drifts elsewhere," Oscar growled.

"Ha! Says the guy who tripped over his own shoelaces because he himself made them to long," Felipe snarled.

"You little…"

Imelda sighed with annoyance as she brothers started their own war in the corner. She thought they had gotten over this childish play. She facepalmed herself, and Hector laughed next to her.

"They're brothers mi amor, but, more accurately, your brothers," he said as she rumbled her back, "They have to act out of the ordinary sometimes." She just closed her eyes and massaged her temples as Hector walked over to retrieve her shoes which were still on the floor behind the twin's work space after they had reached their mark.

 **Bonus points to anyone who can figure out which cartoon show I pulled the character from to make Dora Luz something special. I will give you a hint! Her name in the show is Sapphire Shores, and is also a singer. I did my research on Dora Luz, as I've already said, but I couldn't find anything other than the cold, hard facts (birthday, deathday, age, career, etc). I have no idea what her personality was like, so I had a little fun creating it in my own way to push the story forward. It was a fun challenge! Also I did my research on Mexican shoe sizes, and I think I got it right (if I didn't please tell me, I'm curious). A 7.5 in US shoes is a 4.5 in Mexico shoes, so, if you were confused, that is why her shoes are 'so small'. I think that is all I have to say. I'll see you all in Chapter 10!**


	10. Worried

**Chapter 10:**

 **I am so sorry it took so long to upload this! I've just been so busy lately because my grandpa passed away, I got the flu, and I've also been working on school work and other fanfics non stop. Trust me, I never stop thinking about this cute couple, but I've had a hard time making time for it. I'm also in the process of another one shot that is set in the time when Imelda and Hector were still alive because I know you guys love those ones. But without further a due, Chapter 10!**

Making people laugh was one of Hector's favorite things to do.

He could sit there for hours telling stories and jokes to amuse the people around him, but he found it was ten times more enjoyable when he was making his family laugh.

During times of relaxation where the family wasn't working on shoes, such as right now when they were eating dinner, he would think of the most ridiculous things to say to make them laugh. Even though they were exhausted, his family would always crack a smile. It made his day to see their faces light up, and he usually liked telling his family about his time alive with his wife as well, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen her walk in with the rest of the family after they closed the workshop for the night. She would usually come in with a grumpy and tired look on her face that he would try to change with a kiss to her colorfully marked cheek. But he hadn't been able to see her face, and he was surprised he had gotten so sidetracked as not to notice.

Well, if Imelda hadn't wanted to come for dinner, there must be a good reason. He knew from experience that asking Imelda about a problem head on would only lead to more anger on her side. He didn't want her to think that he would turn into the kind of husband that would nag her for answers, so instead of going out to the workshop to see what she was doing, he picked up the plates off the dinner table and took them into the kitchen.

Rosita always complained that he would do all the cleaning after meals, and would clean up the house while they were in the workshop, and clean up the workshop when they weren't working. She felt that he was doing too much by himself, and wasn't leaving anything for them. He countered saying that he was no help in the shoe making business just yet. He was learning, but he was by no means ready to make a customer's shoes yet. He told her that he was merely doing this to help out since he couldn't help with the business. She reluctantly said that was a decent excuse before allowing him to continue.

He cleaned the dishes the old fashioned way first before putting them in the dishwasher, that he was still getting used to, to make them extremely clean. While that was running, he packaged all the unused food and put it in the fridge. He cleaned the kitchen counters, the dinner table, and had to keep Rosita in her chair in the living room where the rest of the family was relaxing with their own activities because she kept wanting to help.

It was finally well into the night when he heard the sound of the rest of the family getting up, and heading upstairs. They all gave him an exhausted 'goodnight' before mounting the stairs. He waved them away, and went back to taking the dishes and utensils out of the dishwasher, and back onto their shelves and into their drawers. He was just finishing putting the silver forks back into their places when he heard the sound of two pairs of bare, bone feet descending the stairs. He turned to look up when Oscar and Felipe came into the kitchen. They both had slightly worried expressions on their faces.

"What's wrong?" Hector asked knowingly as he placed the last fork in its place and closed the drawer.

"Um, well, we don't want to jump to any conclusions," Felipe began.

"But you might want to go check on Imelda," Oscar said.

"We can see the light still on in the workshop from our bedroom window," Felipe said.

"And we don't know what she's up to," Oscar finished.

"Alright," Hector said as he placed the last stack of plates on their shelf, "I'll go see what she's doing… but are you guys telling me to go because you're scared of her wrath or are you just lazy." He knew that if they still had skin and blood, Felipe and Oscar would be blushing.

"Maybe both," Oscar said with a sheepish smile.

"Oh come on," Hector laughed, "You have known her longer than I have. Why are you scared?"

"Because she's scary when she's mad," Felipe defended them, "And besides, she'll be happier to see your face than ours."

"Plus she'll go easy on you because she still guilty about all the years thinking that you abandoned her," Oscar said, and that earned him an elbow from his twin, "What?!" He asked as he rubbed his now sore ribs, "It's true!" Hector just chuckled as he began to walk out the kitchen.

"Ok you guys, I'll go check on her," Hector said as he pushed past between them to break their glaring stares towards each other, "You two go to bed, and I'll take care of her."

"Thanks Hector," Felipe said as he gave him a thumbs up before heading back up the stairs.

"You were always a keeper no matter what Papa said," Oscar said with a truthful smile before following his brother. Hector smiled back before turning to the door that lead outside to the courtyard and then the workshop.

He would never have guessed how good Oscar's sincere words would make him feel. He had hated splitting their family apart unintentionally as he tried to win Imelda's heart, and actually succeeded. Their Papa had made his daughter choose between her family and her love, and Hector had been surprised when she chose him. He would never forget her tearful eyes and her Papa's astonished face as she walked over to him and held onto his arm. He remembered her Mama breaking down in tears and remembered them getting worse when the twins followed them out of the house with their little suitcases. He had never expected anyone to chose him over a nice home with plenty of food on the table. He had neither growing up, so it sounded like the best dream… before he met Imelda. Her decision to live with him in a broken down hut instead of the home she had lived in ever since she was born proved to him that she loved him just as much as he loved her, and he never thought that would be possible. She had proven to him again and again that she was more than willing to put up with his constant idiocy to keep him around, and he had loved every second of it.

And he knew how much he would suffer after it was gone.

He struggled. He struggled for so long after dying. His first decade in the Land of the Dead were some of the worst years in his life, and when Imelda got there too accusing him of things he hadn't done, it made it so much worse. She hated him. His mi amor hated his guts, and her anger blasted away any apologetic words or chances of understanding that he could possibly give. So he did what she asked. He stayed away, and tried to forget her just as he knew she wanted to forget him. The memories were too painful with her angry voice penetrating them, so he had turned to the one who he hadn't heard that angry voice come from yet. His daughter.

Coco was well on her way to hundred now, but she had been his hope for what he thought to be his remaining years in the Land of the Dead. The only reason he could make people laugh and keep his goofy smile on his face was because of her… but he could never forget Imelda. It was always an ongoing battle. His wonderful memories of his little Coco laughing would slam against the more recent memories of Imelda throwing her boot at him and making a scene in the marketplace. He never thought he could get a break… not until Miguel showed up.

That boy had made his life so much better. He had brought music back to him, showed him his family and what it had become, and pulled him right back to Imelda.

Imelda hadn't been able to give off the rage he knew she wanted to with the 12 year old boy present, and that had been all Miguel needed to tell her the trust and for her to listen. Everything went uphill from there.

He still couldn't believe it as he walked towards the door to the workshop where he could see the light of an oil lamp through the windows and under the door. He was back in the family, he wasn't being forgotten so he would be able to see his little girl, and Imelda didn't hate him. In fact, she told him she _never_ hated him. She told him she only put up a wall of anger because she didn't want to show the hurt that still existed after all these years. Hector had answered her words with a tight, loving hug. He smiled to himself as he took a hold of the workshop door handle.

He would have never guessed that his life would turn out to be so great after all the bad luck he had.

Hector turned the handle, and pushed the door open. His eyes were immediately pulled to the only light in the room. The oil lamp was dim since it was losing all its fuel, and it was illuminating the only other skeleton in the room. Hector sucked in a breath as he saw the firelight bouncing off of Imelda's bones and hair. The poor thing had fallen asleep at her work station with a half finished shoe still clasped in her hand. The lamp light outlined her closed eyes in their sockets, her beautiful facial features, and reflected off the ribbon tied in a bow that kept her long hair out of her face as she worked. Hector smiled at her sleeping form. She looked so vulnerable.

She never showed any vulnerability, ever. She had always been one to hide her emotions, to lock up her pain, and to suck in her tears. Now that her mind was elsewhere, hopefully in a good dream, her face and bones relaxed and presented their owners true form. A beautiful skeleton that was super tired.

Hector walked over to her, and carefully removed the shoe from her tight grasp as not to ruin her perfect, handmade stitches. He placed it by its pair on the shelf of half finished shoes before turning back to her.

She looked so peaceful, so at easy. Hector hated to wake her. She would probably hit him out of pure instinct if he _did_ try to wake her up. He thanked whoever governed the magic of the Land of the Dead for making them skeletons, and skeletons were only 20% of a humans actual mass, because then he wouldn't have been able to lift her. He had always been skinny and weak in the muscle area, and that was why all the women always crowded around Ernesto and not him. But Imelda was smart, and knew there was more to someone than muscles, which Hector was thankful for.

Hector carefully lifted Imelda's head off the table, and rested it against his chest. He then reached under her legs that were covered by her dress from where she sat on her stool and kept a stationary hand against her back as he lifted her up. It was a lot easier than he expected to carry her bridal style out of the workshop, through multiple doors, down the hall, and into their room. He made sure that she was safe and secure in his arms the whole time. It wasn't like they could die anymore, but pain was still a factor even without nerves. Also, he didn't want to disturb her slumber.

He _had_ noticed that she wasn't sleeping all that well lately, and every minute she was actually asleep was a blessing. He carefully placed her on their bed before untying the knot of her work apron in the back and taking it off before hanging it over the chair in the corner like Imelda always did. He also undid the ties of her boots before taking them off, and setting them by his own at the foot of the bed. He knew it would be leaping over the line to get her into her sleepwear, so instead he got his own on, pulled back the covers, and wrapped them both up. He gently wrapped his arm around her, and pulled her back to his chest. She rested his forehead against the back of her head as he felt his own exhaustion over take his senses. It didn't take long for him to follow his wife into a deep sleep.

It was the cold that woke him up.

Hector's eyes sprang open when he felt something was wrong, and what was wrong came to him instantly.

Imelda was gone.

He shook his head as he tried to remember the evening before. Imelda hadn't come to dinner, the twins had been worried, and Hector had carried Imelda to bed. He turned over, and looked at the clock on his bedside table. It was early in the morning, and way too early for anyone to be up. Hector pushed himself up into a sitting position, and looked around the room. He noticed that her work apron and shoes were gone from where he had put them, and this made Hector relax in one way and freak out in another.

If her work things were gone, it meant that she went back down to the workshop, but if she was working this early in the morning, it meant that something was wrong. He had noticed since he got back into Imelda's good graces that if she was irritated, sad, or just off, she would bury herself in shoes. Shoes were what she knew best, and what gave her a sense of meaning. She loved her shoes just as much as she loved him, and if she didn't want to talk about her feeling, the smell of leather was her companion.

Hector got out of bed, rushed to put his own shoes on, and walked out of the door of their bedroom. He made sure to avoid all the lose or squeaky pieces of wood even though he was on the ground floor as he made his way through the silent house. He made sure to open the door to the courtyard quietly considering it was old and rusty, and made a shrill noise if opened to fast. After making sure the door was closed, Hector turned to the workshop. He wasn't surprised to see the light back on again through the window of the shop or the sound of a hammer, but he was surprised to see Pepita staring through the lit window. The great alebrije's tail was swishing back and forth in irritation, and Hector could see her glowing eyes were anxious. That made Hector even more worried about Imelda considering she and Pepita were tied together through a magical bond. Hector quickly walked over to the workshop, and looked at Pepita as the leopard alebrije finally took notice of him. Pepita looked relieved to see him as his hand went to the door for the second time that night, and he walked in without a second thought.

Imelda jumped when the door opened, and she accidently threw the shoe she was working on from where she sat at her station. Hector caught it before it could hit him in the face, and then looked at her in concern.

"Hola," he said was a kind smile, "You okay?"

Imelda's tense bones relaxed upon seeing who had interrupted her work, but her mind kept buzzing around like a mad hornet's nest.

"I've been better," Imelda sighed, and Hector could see how her eyes were drooping and her hands were shaking. Hector walked over to her, pulled up another stool, and sat down next to her. It took a couple minutes of silence before Imelda gave a tired sigh, and leaned her head against his shoulder. Hector wrapped her arm around Imelda's waist, and pulled her close while Imelda lifted one of her hands and rested it against his ribbed chest.

"Talk to me Melda," Hector said as he turned to kiss her hair. Imelda's hand on his chest clutched at the fabric of his sleepwear before she spoke.

"I'm scared, Hector," she said in a voice that was quiet and sorrowful, "I know it sounds silly since you haven't even been to Santa Cecilia since you died, but I've never gone two years without knowing what is happening to our family in the living world. I don't know what happened to Miguel, I don't know what's happening to their business, and I don't know what's happening to Coco. I hate to think that the last Dias De Muertos was the last time I would get to see her alive. I hate to think that I wouldn't get to see Miguel's younger sister as soon as possible. I hate that you can't see them with me."

"That's not a silly way to think at all Mel," Hector said as he hugged her tighter, "You are a good Mama, and wonderful worrier. Even though I'm sure they are all fine and well, it's a good feeling to know that that part of you never changed. You are still that young Mama that wouldn't let Coco out of your sight for more than 30 seconds. You didn't like leaving me alone with Coco while you went to run errands because you knew that I didn't worry as much as you. I would be the one playing games instead of letting her sleep, and you would scold me afterwards," Hector laughed at the thought, "It seems I was the bigger child."

"And you still are," Imelda said as she reached up for Hector's chin, and guided his head down so she could kiss his cheek, "I was overpowering back then. I was still trying figure out my role in Coco's life. Was I supposed to be the one who taught her everything, or the one that fed her, or the one that put her to sleep. I know realize how foolish that was. You can't, as a parent, give yourself a title. Each parent does everything no matter how big or small it is. I unfortunately had to learn that the hard way after you died."

"Lo siento," Hector sighed as he cherished her caring hands on his chest, "I wish I had been there to help. That was what I was supposed to do, and I had been prepared for it. But I tripped up and broke so many relationships in the process, and the one I was the most sad about was ours. I lost everything when I lost you. I lost so much for making one mistake, and I never want to make such a mistake again or it might just end me."

"It was never your fault," Imelda said, and she had said it so many times. Hector wanted to place everything on his own shoulders, and didn't want anyone to lighten his burden for him. It reminded Imelda of how many time Rosita asked to help Hector clean, but he kindly rejected her offers. He didn't want help just as much as she didn't. They were one in the same about that. "You were a wonderful Papa, and a wonderful husband. I don't know why I'm worrying about people that I can't even help. They are my family, si, but I trust them to make the right decisions just as I should have trusted you. It's just been eating at me for a while. I want to know what's going on in the Land of the Living, but I can't. There is not much that can stop me from getting what I want unless it is impossible. Getting over the bridge without a photo and without it being Dias De Muertos is impossible, and I know you know this."

"I know it too well," Hector chuckled as he recalled the countless amounts of attempts he had to cross that stupid petal bridge. "But at least we have each other now, and what better way to connect with the ones who can't see us by doing something that we all have in common. Would you mind giving me a lesson even in these early hours?" Imelda laughed as she looked up and met his big, begging eyes.

"Of course I don't mind, mi amor," she smiled as she took a hold of her shoe she had been working on and gave him the hammer. She directed his movements as she had done for every member of her family she had the honor of meeting face to face. The lessons came easily to her, and they were enough to distract her from her worried, motherly thoughts.


	11. Game

**Chapter 11:**

 **Here is another update, and, as I promised, it's based when Hector and Imelda are alive. I'm currently running out of ideas of what to write when it comes to them being together in the Land of the Living, but I've got lots of ideas when it comes to the Land of the Dead. Writing about the struggles of parenthood is lots of fun, but I feel it's starting to get repetitive. If you want more living one shots, I'll be happy to write about things you want me to. But without further a do, Chapter 11!**

"Hector!"

Hector shot up in surprise, and he ended up hitting the back of his head on the underside of the table he was currently looking under. He turned to his beautiful but fuming wife whose nostrils were flaring like an angry bull and whose fists were shaking in rage. He gave her his best smile considering the circumstances.

"Yes mi amor?" He asked, and he hated how his voice shook.

"How could you lose her again?!" She cried, and her anger alone was enough to shake the walls of their home.

"I didn't mean to," Hector tried to defend himself, but he knew he would lose, "She slipped out of my sight when I was getting her something to eat! It's not my fault that she hates her baby food!"

"But you know, or you should know, that feeding her is a two person job!" Imelda yelled back at him, "And it usually results with having to scrub food off the walls! How big of an idiota can you be?! You should have waited for me to come home!" She stomped over to the kitchen, and Hector reluctantly followed.

Coco giggled as she poked her head out of her hiding spot. She made sure the coast was clear before lifting the lid of the crate all the way open, and hopping out. She creeped towards the entrance to the kitchen, and peeked around the corner to see her mama slamming her basket of grocery on the counter and her papa flinching at her movements. Coco giggled again.

Hector heard the little noise of laughter, and turned around in a flash. He found nothing at the doorway besides the next room. He turned back around with a suspicious glare, but when he met his wife's own angry glare half an inch away from his face, he jumped back with a shriek. He quickly tried to correct his reaction as Imelda's glare turned into an unamused expression, and then a facepalm. She grumbled before looking at Hector with a look that said I'm-giving-you-pity-because-you're-adorable-but-pathetic.

"lo siento Hector," Imelda sighed, "I'm being unfair. I'm just worried about her."

"There is no need to be sorry, mi amor," Hector said as he hugged her to him. "Being a mama or a papa is a hard job, and I'm happy to be one, but it demands a lot from everyone involved. But that being said… I shouldn't have tried feeding her without you here. She listens to you better than she listens to me anyways."

"That's because I'm the one who enforces the rules, and you're the one she plays with," Imelda sighed, "She knows she can have all kinds of fun with you, but I, on the other hand, mean business. She likes you better anyways."

"That's not true," Hector hugged her tighter, pressed a light kiss to the top of her beautiful, haired head, "She loves us both, and we love her. That's how it is, and that's how it should be," Hector looked outside at the setting sun before continuing, "And Coco should also be fed and in bed in a little under an hour… Are you up for a challenge Melda?" Imelda pushed back enough to gave him a smirk and a suspicious gaze.

"You know I'm always up for a challenge," She said confidently, "What is it?"

"A game," Hector said, "A way to get to a child is through an entertaining game. We finish her little game of Hide-and-Seek in style and get her into bed before we collapse from exhaustion. It also will hopefully be enough to get her tried too."

"And whoever catches her wins," Imelda said slyly. Hector blinked a couple times before responding.

"Sure," Hector said before barring his feet with a competitive spirit, "Are you in, or are you chicken?"

"I accept your challenge," Imelda smiled smugly before getting very close Hector's face, "Let's go catch ourselves a child."

Coco giggled again as she moved away from the door to the kitchen. She hurried on her little, stumpy feet to the coat rack, and hid among the pieces of clothing. She loved hiding in the coat rack because it smelled of her parents and her uncles, and it made for a great hiding spot. The disturbed clothing stilled completely as Imelda and Hector entered the room.

"Ok Coco," Hector called, "Ready or not, here we come!"

Coco covered her mouth to muffle her laughter as her mother began to check all the hiding spots down the hallway that held their bedrooms, and as her father began to check all the little nooks and crannies around the living room. Coco watched as her father got closer and closer to her hiding spot and began to think she would need to run, but Pepita came to her rescue.

The little cat trotted out from behind a chair, and knocked the wood of the piece of furniture with her tail. This was enough to draw Hector's attention away from the rest of the room, so Coco was able to slip out of her hiding spot and bolt into the next room where she found a fun surprise to help her.

"Ah, Pepita," Hector groaned, "You're breaking my concentration." The cat just gave a small "meow" in response before Hector kept looking. Coco didn't notice as Pepita's eyes watched her enter her new hiding spot.

Imelda looked under her and Hector's bed before checking the twins room, and then Coco's room. Each room was empty considering the twins were out finding jobs in town, and apparently Coco wasn't there. Imelda grumbled before tapping her foot in annoyance. A meow alerted her to a new presence in the room.

"Hello Pepita," Imelda said as she bent down to pet the cat, "You don't happen to know where Coco is, do you? It would be very helpful." Pepita began to purr as Imelda scratched behind her ears and under her chin, but pulled away at Imelda's words. She gave another meow as her response before walking towards the door. She looked behind her shoulder as if asking Imelda to follow her, so Imelda did.

Hector was on his hands and knees looking under every piece of furniture, listening to every possible sound, and checking everything that could hold a toddler. He was completely dumbfounded. Where had she gone? He hoped that she hadn't found some way to get outside. Then Imelda would kill him for sure, and Coco could be in danger. But he knew Imelda never forgot to lock the door behind her and he had locked all the doors this morning, so she couldn't possibly have gotten out. Hector scratched his head before deciding to check everywhere again.

While he was doing this, Imelda was tiptoeing past him behind his back. Pepita had trotted into the entrance hall, and Imelda was attempting to follow her without alerting Hector of her attentions. Unfortunately, the floorboards were against her because as she entered the other room Hector heard her and turn to see her go.

Pepita had walked into the room, and had proceeded to just lay down in the middle of the hall with her belly angled toward the ceiling. Imelda sighed in irritation.

"So that's all you're going to give me?" Imelda asked, "I get to do the rest of the work myself?" Pepita just meowed again before walking over to the nearest window, and hoping up on the window sill. Imelda just shrugged before going to look around, but that was before Hector reached out his hands towards her sides from the threshold of the doorway. Imelda gave a shriek in fright and then a laugh as Hector began to tickle her.

"What are you doing sneaking around here?" He laughed as she pushed against him, trying to pull herself free from his attack even as she laughed.

"Looking for… our child!" She cried between laughs, "Which is obviously not… what you're doing!" Hector smiled before finally releasing her. Imelda bent over and clutched her knees as she tried to gain her breath. Hector just looked down at her with a sly smile.

"That was uncalled for," Imelda breathed before straightening her back. Hector just shrugged.

"You looked a little tense," Hector smiled, "I was just helping you loosen up."

"Well you could have done it different—" Imelda shut herself up when she heard a noise coming from the closet door. She and Hector exchanged looks before walking towards the door. Imelda slowly went for the doorknob before carefully opening the door.

"Surprise!" Felipe and Oscar cried as they hugged a laughing Coco in their arms. Imelda and Hector jumped back in clear surprise before tripping over each other and falling to the floor. Hector reached out last minute and caught Imelda in his lap.

The twins and Coco laughed at them before squeezing out of the tiny space. Coco giggled as she ran over to her dumbfounded parents, and snuggled into them.

"I found Uncle Felipe and Uncle Oscar," Coco laughed.

"We can see that," Hector said before using a good amount of his strength to lift up Imelda and Coco at the same time. He held Imelda bridal style with Coco sitting in her mother's lap. Imelda got over her surprise as she was lifted into the air.

"Hector, put me down!" Imelda cried as she rushed to put her hands around his neck to make sure she wouldn't fall. After Hector didn't with a sly smile, she grumbled to herself again before turning to her brothers, "I thought that you were looking for a job."

"And we found one," Felipe said, "We're now employers of Senor Ruiz's material goods store."

"But that only took a couple minutes to do," Oscar also said, "So we came back here right after."

"Well that's good," Hector smiled, "Good job guys."

"But that doesn't mean you have to scare us," Imelda pouted, "Being this emotionally frightened in one day wasn't on my to do list."

"Ah, come on Imelda," Oscar said, "What's life without a little scare?"

"I get too much of that around here," Imelda mumbled before Hector gave her a good squeeze. She smiled at him before leaning her head against his shoulder. Coco gave a yawn before laying down against her mother's chest. She was asleep within minutes.

"Mission accomplished," Hector whispered to his wife, and all Imelda could do was laugh.


	12. Curse

**Chapter 12:**

 **Sorry for the late update! I've been busy with AP exams, and finals, and Standardized Testing to the point where I couldn't write anything for a couple of weeks. Let's just say all of my stories suffered from finals week. Well, anyway, here's another chapter! It's not as joyful as I would like it to be, the sad ones are always the hardest, but I couldn't ignore it. I've seen so many people try to show what Imelda and Hector's interaction would have been like after so many years, and none of them I felt really caught onto all the pain that Imelda really felt. I haven't read every single possible attempt at this scene, so I'm not saying all of them are unsatisfying. Just the ones I've read, so I'm guessing that's like 27%... maybe. But without further adieu, Chapter 12!**

Who knew that she would have to get back on her feet.

She had to build a business from the ground up when raising her daughter, and that business was the thing that her family in the Living World now depended on. She never thought that she would have to build it back up again.

But here she was, working three jobs, all based in the creation of clothing, trying to buy her own house that wasn't paid for by the government in the Land of the Dead. She had just gotten there a couple of weeks ago, and it was a lot to take in. She herself had never visited a big city before, but now she was apart of one. The Land of the Dead was basically a big island in the middle of nowhere that people had been able to build upon years ago. The oldest buildings were on the bottom, and the newest buildings were at the top. Imelda was currently on one of the top levels, working along with multiple other skeletons at sewing machines, and was still struggling to function in her jobs even after the weeks she had been here.

She was still getting used to the fact that she was all bones now. She had gotten used to her hands first so she would be able to work and earn a living, but walking had come second. She had been given clothes when she had arrived and had fixed the shoes that were also given to her so they fit her bony feet just right, but she was still struggling to feel like herself again. One moment she was 120 pounds, and then the next she was only 24 pounds. The change in weight, and the fact that she didn't have any muscles, was what made moving so difficult. She admitted she was getting better, she hadn't fallen in a couple of days now, but she still missed her old body. She would even take her arthritis back to be able to work like she used to, see her years of worn out calluses, and hug her family close.

Imelda had felt loneliness before, but not like this.

She had felt it when Hector left her, but it was nothing compared to the feeling of not being able to see her daughter, or her son-in-law, or their children, or their children's children. She found it hard to go about her day in the Land of the Dead without tripping over her lively, rambunctious great grandchildren, or hearing Coco's voice telling her to take it easy, or Elena's barking attitude when she told her kids to stop pestering the adults in the workshop. She didn't know how much she would miss it until it was gone.

"Senora Rivera, are you alright?"

Imelda looked up from her work to see her manager, Ceci, looking down on her from where she stood.

"Yes, I'm of perfect health," Imelda lied before turning back to the dress she was making, but Ceci wouldn't let her get away with that for a response.

"Being dead is not all that fun for the first couple months, but it'll get better," the woman said as her hand ghosted over Imelda's work, "And with gorgeous stitches like these, I won't be surprised if you get your business going next week."

"My business will be all I've got here," Imelda said as her shoulders slumped, "My skills, my years of experience, are all I have. I've got nothing else to work off of besides my sheer will."

"I'm sure that's not true," her manager said as she retracted her hand, "Don't you have any family here, or a friend?"

"Besides my alebrije, no," Imelda said as her eyes stared unfocused at her work, "I have no one at all."

Imelda walked down the stairs of the art studio after her work hours were over to where her alebrije was waiting for her. Pepita had grown immensely after her death a couple years back and had gotten a lot more colorful. Said alebrije had also grown wings, horns, and hind feet that resembled a hawk, but her protective, nurturing nature was still the same. Pepita, after she heard Imelda's heels clicking down the outside stairs, lifted up her body from where she was laying on the ground, and walked over to her human. Imelda rested her forehead against Pepita's fuzzy head for a minute to recollect her thoughts. Life was harder than it ever was before, and Imelda knew it would have been even harder if Pepita wasn't there. Pepita had morphed into a means of transportation, heavy lifting, and a nice snuggle companion. Her hugs had gotten a lot better since her times as a kitten with razor sharp claws.

Imelda watched as Pepita leaned down to give Imelda the option to climb on her back, but Imelda didn't. She smiled at her alebrije before starting to walk home. Pepita gave her best cat like shrug before following her human. Imelda needed to get better at walking. It was far too obvious that she was new by the way she walked, and she didn't want everyone's pity any longer. It was annoying… and very, very familiar.

She recognized the looks of pity from when she first became a widow on the streets of Santa Cecilia. She remembered how disgusting and revolting the gestures of kindness were to her hardened soul. She remembered growling at people who offered her money, supplies, or even just good wishes towards her and her young daughter, but she despised the taunts the most. She hated how men in the town would talk her down saying she was never good enough for love, and that she was a failure at everything she did. They told her that her husband, her sweet, adorable, goofball of a husband, ran away in fear of her rage, her opinions, and her violent attitude. They told her that she was nothing…

Imelda wiped away a spare tear as she looked down at her boots as she continued walking. She then nashed her teeth together, snarled low in her throat, and sucked in the rest of her tears, refusing to let them fall.

Failure? Ha! She was one of the wealthiest, most successful women in the country when she was alive. They said she was nothing? She was a lot more than just nothing. She had watched the smirks of those men crumble as she became more well known as a business woman than she ever had as a widow. She gained more wealth than they had ever hoped to gain, and she had gotten the one thing that she had wished for ever since she knew the words and its meaning.

A family.

With or without Hector, she made that happen. She watched her daughter grow, and watched her find love, and made sure that its cunning nature wasn't as cruel to Coco as it had been to her. She watched her grandchildren blossom into fantastic shoemakers, and passed down all her knowledge that she had gained from her self taught practice. Failure wasn't even an option in her life, and she would prove it as a dead skeleton just as much as she did as a living human being.

Imelda felt her face grow hard and focused as she walked down the busy, nicely lit walkways in the darkening evening. She tried to not trip over her own feet as she watched the wooden boards of the boardwalk below her and marched forward, and she heard her great alebrije doing the same. She could see all the wonderful lights of the city in her peripheral vision and she could smell something delicious cooking in a nearby restaurant, but, even with her senses packed with so much information and wonder, she could still hear something that was just… off.

She could hear the sound of bare feet hitting the hard wood.

Imelda admired that all the skeletons around her, even though they had no nerves in their feet anymore, still wore shoes. She was personally happy about this considering her life revolved around shoes and because it seemed the Land of Dead was better than Santa Cecilia in that regard. She had always been able to spot someone without shoes when she walked down the streets of the little town, and always wished that she had the money to give them a pair for free since they were lacking in money themselves, but she always had to pass right by. After she had gained enough money to give away some of her hard earned labor from time to time, she trained herself to hear bare feet like a sixth sense. And it clearly had passed on with her after her death.

She knew that the sound of bare feet in the Land of the Living compared to the Land of the Dead was very different, but she could still make out the certain noise in the loud, crowded area of the city. She didn't realize how awful the noise sounded. The sound of hard, boney feet hitting the worn out wood was one of the worst things she'd ever heard. She felt herself cringing at the sound, and wished it could stop. She wished she could make it stop, but, like when she was a young mother, she didn't have the resources to. She was barely getting along herself, and she didn't have all the tools necessary to make a pair of shoes even if she had the time or money to. It hurt her to admit that she was powerless in this scenario, but she did it anyways and kept on moving.

But the peculiar thing was, the sound followed her.

She could still hear the awful sound after she turned a corner, and walked onto another well light street. She could hear it as she passed through the bustling farmers market, and as she walked onto higher levels of the skyscrapers she was now forced to call home. It was starting to make her nervous, and she was very glad that Pepita was still right there with her. She placed a hand on the great alebrije's shoulder, and felt the growl that vibrated from her throat through her body. _So I'm not going crazy_ , Imelda thought as she felt her bones tensing, _she see can hear it too_.

Imelda slowly gained the courage to cautiously turn her head, and look over her shoulder.

She saw what she expected to see first -crowds of skeletons, bright lights, and loud voices- but that was before she made eye contact with a certain pair of brown eyes.

She stiffened, and stopped. Pepita did the same, and curled her head around to catch sight of the stranger too. But he didn't seem to be acting like a stranger. Even though people were cutting through the invisible line connected their gazes, Imelda could still see his eyes very clearly. They were loving, caring, sweet, adoring, and hopeful. And excited. She noticed how his face lightened up when she finally turned to look at him, and how his poor, darkening bones were shaking… almost like fear was apart of the cluster of emotions going through his head.

She didn't know what to make of this.

She didn't know anyone here yet, unless the people that she worked with counted. She had never seen this poor skeleton before and she knew that for a fact because she would have remembered him. His torn clothes, messy hair, and bare feet stood out in the crowd like a moth in a swarm of butterflies. She knew he must have come from the horrible reaches of the lower levels where no one wished to go. The nearly forgotten lived there and died there, and she knew that he was on his way towards the same fate. She felt pity for the skeleton, but shook the feelings away. She couldn't be a hypocrite. If she didn't want pity, she wouldn't give any away. Imelda just shook it all off as she gave a huff and picked up her skirts before turning her back to him and continuing to walk. She kept her ears open however, and wasn't surprised when she heard his bare feet again.

They had quickened their pace, almost like they were desperate, and it put Imelda on edge even more. She knew that she should just jump on Pepita's back and fly the rest of the way home, but she knew that wouldn't solve anything. If this man had found her once, he could surely find her again, and she refused to be the prey in this little game of chase. She set her eyes with concentration, and tugged Pepita down a less busy walkway that bled into a silent, dark alleyway of sorts. She took the first corner she saw that had enough shade to conceal herself and Pepita, and waited. She was a patient being, but even then she didn't have to wait long.

She saw his shadow before she saw his bony form. She watched quietly from her hiding spot as he looked around wildly in every direction, and felt her confusion increase as she saw the disappointed expression he was now wearing. She didn't let this detail faze her however, and turned to her loyal alebrije. She made sure that her great jaguar had her eyes on this strange man before snapping her phalanges.

The noise caught the man's attention, but it was too late to be of any help.

Pepita roared and leaped at the man. He gave a shriek as the giant alebrije knocked him over pushed him down into the ground with her front paws, but stayed perfectly still as her fangs got dangerously close to his face. He shut his eyes tight before hearing a pair of fingers give another snap. Pepita stopped growling and pulled her face away from the strange man's, but she didn't get up. She kept the man stationary against the ground with her sheer weight as Imelda looked at the man from behind her alebrije.

The female skeleton didn't know whether to be concerned for her safety or concerned about the man's safety. Pepita had pounced a lot harder than Imelda expected, and didn't know why. Pepita was a very protective cat, but she knew a human's physical limits. She knew what hurt and what didn't (after her years testing out her claws Imelda's skin). Imelda had suspected that Pepita would just give the man a fright and corner him somehow, but she had right out attacked him. Imelda knew that Pepita would only show this much aggression if the person she was attacking was attacking her family. Pepita, as a small housecat, had shown great aggression towards random, possibly territorial canines she had found on the streets while Imelda was making her way around the market in Santa Cecilia, and had even bitten and clawed the men that had cursed Imelda on those off evenings (which had earned her a bigger dinner). Either Pepita was just in a violent, twitchy mood, or she knew something about this man that Imelda didn't.

Imelda walked around the great body of her alebrije so the man could see her. Even in the situation he was in, he still managed to give a smile as soon as he saw her, and this caused Imelda to raise an eyebrow.

"What do you think you are doing following me around the Land of the Dead like a crazed stalker?" Imelda asked with a slight growl of her own as she prepared to grab her boot just in case, "I've got enough problems without your childish antics getting in the way."

"Please Imelda," the skeleton said, and Imelda felt her entire being go numb as she heard his voice say her name, "I just wanted to see you… it has been a really long time since I've seen your beautiful face."

Imelda couldn't breathe.

She didn't know if she was hearing things, or thinking of the worst -and she wished that she was just thinking- but there was no denying that voice or those 'sweet' words. Imelda felt anger beyond anything she had felt in a long time. 50 years worth pain, rage, and crushed dreams came through her strike as her boot made contact with his skull. His head was dislodged from his vertebrae and went flying. It hit a nearby building, and tumbled to the ground. His eyes fell out of their sockets, and he quickly used the powers that were gifted to the skeletons of the Land of the Dead to pull them back into their sockets. He stared up in complete astonishment at Imelda, and he wished that her aggressive alebrije wasn't lying on his body so he could recontect his head without fear of the jaguar.

Imelda was breathing heavily, and she stared down at the head in front of her as he shrunk back. He didn't know what to say as he noticed that her beautiful eyes were changing from brown to red. Why was she so mad? What had he done? He didn't know.

"Imelda…" he started with a shaky voice, but that only earned him a rage filled roar of her own before his head went tumbling further down the alleyway. He quickly collected his eyes again and mustered up all his courage before forcing his head to fly back and reattach to his neck. Her alebrije, which he now realized was Pepita as he looked into the feline's eyes, was being more forgiving than his wife was being. Speaking of her, he had to look up when a shadow loomed over him. He gulped as he looked up into his sweet Imelda's shaking face. He went to speak again, but she beat him to it.

" _Hector…_ " she snarled with so much rage in her bite that it felt like another boot to the face. Hector looked up at Imelda, and felt a sense of sorrow overcome him while he felt his hopes crumble.

He had been so happy when he had first caught sight of her walking to and from her job, but he had kept his distance just to make sure that it was indeed her. After getting a good look at her face, her hair, and her gorgeous eyes, he knew that it was her. He had waited for so many years just to see her again, and now that he was finally able… he wished more than ever that he hadn't died. He could now see how rigid and sturdy she had become in the years he hadn't been there to help her, and that was just like her. She never backed down from anything. She just kept fighting until she got what she deserved, but she shouldn't have had to raise their daughter on her own. He knew she would be mad at him when they met up again, but he didn't expect this amount of fury.

"Imelda…" he said slowly because everytime he opened his mouth, his head ended up on the other side of the alley, "I…" Now that he had time to think, he had no idea what he wanted to say. He hadn't expected this amount of violence. Imelda had always been one to owardly show her stronger emotions (anger, love, disgust), but she never outwardly swung at someone who wasn't causing her discomfort or pain. But… maybe that was just it. She was in pain… and he had somehow started it.

"Please my love, my one and only love, I-" Hector started again, but Imelda interrupted him quickly and was burning force.

"Liar!" she roared as tears started to collect at the corners of her eyes, "Is that all you're good at doing?! Lying?!" This stumped Hector. When had he lied? What lie could he have possibly told that would make her this upset? She seemed to notice that he was trying to understand what she was saying and it made her yell again in rage, "You left me! After everything you said to me, to Coco, in your letters, you just turned your back and walked away! Like I meant nothing to you! Like I was just some old toy you could just toss away!"

 _What?_ No! No, no, no! He hadn't left her! Well, in a sense he had… He had died. There was no way to change death, and there was no way for him to get back to her. He understood that it was peculiar for Imelda not to put up his photo on the ofrenda and that it was almost impossible to forget to put it up if that was the case, so he kept coming up with excuses to why she never did that were far nicer than the truth. Could it be possible that Imelda had intentionally kept him off the ofrenda…?

"Imelda, no, I would never-" Hector tried again to the best of his abilities, but, again, he was immediately shut down.

"Stop lying!" Imelda shrieked at the top of her nonexistent lungs which made her voice echo all the way down the alley that seemed never ending, "You left me alone, you left me vulnerable to all the world's hardships, and you left me to care for both my brothers and my Coco. You never once turned back, or thought about our well being. You just wanted to play for the world so _badly_ didn't you?! You just wanted to show the world that you were worthy of its love! Well, I loved you! I loved you more than my own familia, and that's why I turned them away… so I could be with you…" Imelda's hand that held her boot slumped down to her side as her head hung with the weight of her emotions. Hector wished now more than ever that Pepita wasn't pinning him down so he could give her physical comfort… but he now realized that that course of action would probably make this whole situation worse.

"I gave up everything I had to be with you," Imelda whimpered as she seemed to be trying to curl herself into a protected ball. She was trying to find something to anchor onto, "I gave up my legacy, my sturdy foundation, and expected to build another one in its place… with you. I expected you to help me, and I never thought of it any other way. I never thought that you would be so selfish. I kept thinking like the childish little girl I was, and I thought we would live _happily ever after_ because we had each other. And that turned out to be another lie… that I told myself." Imelda crumbled to the floor with her knees and arms shielding her face from view as she cried. Hector couldn't figure it out as he tried to fight his own stream of damp emotions.

This didn't make any sense…

Hadn't she known? Hadn't she known he had died nearly 50 years ago? Hadn't she known that he had died from food poisoning back on his tour with Ernesto? Ernesto…

Hector felt his own form of rage envelop his senses. Hector had also found it confusing how Ernesto never seemed to want to talk to him -his best friend and his only family- after he died. Hector expected the larger man to come find him, but Hector ended up being the one looking for him. Once he had finally found the apparently heavily famous musician (because he had used Hector's prized, personal songs against his wishes) during one of his parades downtown, Ernesto had refused to look at him. Hector had cried out his name until security officials tried to pull him away from the scene saying he was causing a disruption.

Ernesto hadn't told Imelda that he had died. Imelda thought that he had run off with his best friend to make music and become famous. Imelda had been living off of the information the world had given her, that being his songs, his best friend, and the guitar that _she_ had given him all becoming worldwide trophies to behold. She thought he was behind it all.

"I never meant to leave you Mel," Hector tried again to get any understanding across, but he feared it was useless, "I died only a couple months into that tour with Ernesto, and I thought that he would have told you that. But instead he used my untimely death as an opportunity to take me songs and my guitar, and make himself known. He used my skill to make himself famous, and… I still can't believe he never told you. I'm so terribly sorry Imelda… I can't believe you had to do everything yourself. I can't believe our beautiful Coco was forced to grow up under those poor conditions, and I'm sorry that you thought that I outwardly and intentionally abandoned you…" he sniffed as he wiped away some stray tears before attempting to move, with Pepita's weight still on top of him, to a better angle in an effort to see her face that was still hidden behind all her limbs. "I love you Imelda, and I always have. I've been waiting so long to see you again, and it looks like you haven't aged a day. I know I should not ask for your forgiveness because what I did is unforgivable, but… please Imelda…I'm so sorry."

Imelda wanted to believe him. She truly wanted to believe that it was all that idiota Ernesto's fault and call it a day, but she pushed through those hopeful, childish thoughts.

"Lies," Imelda whispered so quietly that Hector almost didn't catch it. Imelda finally lifted her head, and Hector was taken aback by how red her eyes were, "What else have you lied about? Have you always been this good of a liar? Has everything you've ever told me been a lie?! Are you lying right now?! Have you never loved me?!"

Hector wanted to say something, anything, but he found that his jaw was locked with fear. Imelda secured her boot back onto her foot before rising back to her feet. The moon was at just the right angle that Imelda's entire head was a silhouette against it. The only feature Hector could see of her face was her burning eyes. He visibly and audibly gulped. It only took three steps for her to be right next to him, but each one felt like an earthquake. She bent at the waist so she was only a couple inches away from Hector's face, and Hector felt himself shrinking away.

"You, idiota músico, listen to me," she said in a dangerously love voice, and that made Hector's bones quake, "You will never go anywhere near me again, and you will also never go anywhere near my family when they arrive here one day. You will not attempt to befriend them, or talk to them, or even make eye contact with them as long as you exist. And I will protect them from you for as long as _I_ exist. They are all I care about now. You mean nothing to me, and you haven't for some time. The only thing you are useful for is to be a constant reminder of the horrible mistakes I've made so I will never hurt my real familia or myself ever again. Do I make myself clear?" Hector heaved a sigh of despair as he let her words soak in. Only then did he look up into her eyes with the straightest face he could muster.

"Yes," Hector crumbled internally at his own words, "I will never go near your family for as long as I live."

Imelda seemed to be satisfied with his answer because she retracted her face and gave Pepita a pat on the shoulder. The great alebrije lifted her front paws from where they had been pushing down on Hector's chest, and only after she removed them did he notice a stinging pain coming from his rib cage. He looked down in disbelief as he found that one his ribs had been completely snapped in two due to the immense pressure of Pepita's weight. How had he not noticed that before now? Emotions seemed to block out almost anything.

Pepita didn't seem to care about what she had done in the slightest as she bent down for her human. Imelda proceeded to climb onto Pepita's back, and gently take a hold of the scruff of her feline friend's neck that was still present from when she was an actual housecat. Imelda barely gave Hector a sideways glance before Pepita spread her wings and rose into the sky. Hector watched them go feeling more deflated, depressed, and pained than he ever had in his entire life. He hunched over his lap holding his aching rib, but that pain in no way compared to his breaking heart. He quietly cried to the darkness around him as he swam in his own sorrow.

It had taken a while for Hector to get up, and make the long hike back home. He was thankful there weren't that many skeletons out at the late hour because he didn't feel like interacting with anyone. He just wanted to get home, and think of a new plan. Seeing Imelda again had been what had driven him forward during his time in the Land of the Dead, and he didn't know what to do now. But it hit him. He would wait for Coco! No! Waiting wasn't even an option! He would get to Coco as soon as physically possible. Having a photo was only the easiest way to get across the bridge. He could find some faster way to get across the bridge! He had a lot Dias De Muertos to think of something, and he knew that his spirit would be enough to make it work.

Hector felt confident about his new, life plan as he walked down to the lower levels of the Land of the Dead and into Shantytown, but that confidence disappeared once he was inside his little shack of a house.

He felt his teeth grind against each other as his anger boiled to the point of overflowing. He didn't even register that he was making his entire house shake with each step he took as he made his way to one particular corner of the room. He took a hold the object's neck before smashing it into the floor without a second thought. The well loved guitar that he had earned at a small music contest a couple of decades ago splintered and broke into a million pieces on impact before falling into the sea due to the hole in the floor created by the collision. He heaved deep, angry breaths, and he watched with satisfaction as the pieces were pushed out of view thanks to the current.

Hector breathed a couple more deep breaths before he calmed down.

His love of music had caused this entire situation to crash down on him. Music drove Hector to meeting the other orphan Ernesto who wanted to learn to play. Music had driven Hector away from his love when he had wanted to play music in the plaza on those sunny afternoons. Music had pushed him and Ernesto to go on that tour that began Imelda's ill feelings towards him. Music was what brought upon Ernesto's greed and ambition to the point that he wouldn't even tell his best friend's wife he was dead. Music _was_ a curse.

It had pushed away the one true thing he wanted in life, and now he could never get it back…


	13. Date

**Chapter 13:**

 **I apologize for my silence. This is one of my most popular stories and I haven't touched it for months. It's disgraceful! But better late than never I suppose. This one shot was requested by many of my viewers and it is a very simple one. Hector asks Imelda on a date in the Land of the Dead. How can something so simple be so moving? We might never know. If you want to request your own one shot for me to do, please feel free to leave a review or a direct message. I love reading them! They always brighten my day! But without further adieu, Chapter 13!**

"Ha! Ha! I win… again!" Rosita giggled as Hector gave out an aggravated groan.

"Come on!" The older skeleton cried as he looked down at the chessboard in disbelief, "I almost had you that time! How about just one more game?"

"Sure! Why not?" Rosita shrugged suspiciously with another laugh before moving to collect her pieces from off of the chessboard. Hector did the same, but he had to collect his pieces from the neat, little pile that Rosita had made after she had taken out almost every single one of them. Julio, Oscar, and Felipe laughed at Hector's efforts to beat Rosita as they sat watching the new chess game unfold, while Victoria rolled her eyes before going back to her book.

The dead Riveras were currently in the middle of one of their relaxing nights where they just did whatever they wanted while being in the company of the rest of the family. Hector had joined this particular event a couple of weeks after the events of Dia de Muertos. He had been silly enough to challenge anyone to a chess game after he saw the chessboard collecting dust on a shelf, and Rosita had answered that call. If there was one thing that Rosita could do just as well as making shoes, it was playing chess. The usually bubbly, somewhat flamboyant skeleton was actually a master of strategy when it came to the game, and Hector was now learning this the hard way… and Imelda felt no sympathy for him.

 _If he wanted to play chess with someone without knowing how good that someone was, that's his fault,_ she told herself as she continued sticking her needle and thread into the square piece of cloth in her hands, and she could feel how her actions were getting more aggressive as she thought about her husband. _It's his fault for getting tied up in that nonsense of a game._

Imelda wanted to slap herself.

It was just a game! It was just a game, and she was acting like it was some life decision that he should think long and hard about. He had probably just mentioned the piece of wood with its black and white surface to help them relax after he noticed how tired they were from a long day of work. He hadn't been hoping to win when he mentioned the game; he had been hoping to help. Imelda sighed as she stopped her hand's unfocused movements. Why couldn't she stop thinking about Hector in such awful ways? She looked up from her lap as her goofy husband gave another funny noise of disapproval when Rosita took his Queen away. She felt her own smile cross her face as her brothers and son-in-law laughed at his ridiculous, flailing arms and concentrating pout. Why was it so hard to forgive?

She had to cut herself some slack. Being mad at someone for multiple decades because you thought something that wasn't true is hard to shake off, but she still felt bad. Every time she saw him do something that reminded her of her younger years, her first thought was of how he used to make her feel loved… which quickly brought upon her memories of heartache and loneliness… but that meant that she had not forgotten the memories. She still loved him deep down after all this time, and she had been hating herself for years because of it. But now that the truth was out and Hector was redeemed, she didn't know what to feel or how to feel it. She was a woman craving attention but was also fearful of interaction.

She felt herself tense when he heard him laugh from across the small room. She wanted to hide away from his gaze that she had felt multiple times that evening. She wanted to get away from his voice that was talking to her family, but she also wanted him to talk to her like he talked to them. He was so calm when he was around them, but he became a scared mess around her.

Imelda sighed.

And she deserved it.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Hector cried out again, and Imelda knew that signaled the end of yet another game, "Just one more! I think I've got it this time!"

"Sure!" Rosita laughed her wholehearted laugh, "I've got nothing better to do!"

"But unfortunately I do," Imelda said as she took her opportunity. She took off her reading glasses, put them in the pocket of her apron, and placed her piece of stitching work next to her on the couch, "I have to check and make sure that new leather hasn't dried up yet. I will only be a moment." Without waiting to hear the responses from her family, Imelda got up from her seat on the couch and headed out the outside door towards the workshop. Hector watched her go with a sad, but relieved, state of mind. He could finally talk to his family about important matters that he couldn't stand holding in anymore.

"I need your help with something!" Hector said urgently so he drew the attention of everyone in the room.

"Well if it's about your ability to play chess," Felipe laughed.

"We already know you need help," Oscar cackled.

"No, it's not about chess," Hector sighed as he looked fearfully at the door that his wife had just walked through, "It's about Imelda."

"What about her?" Julio asked as he nervously fidgeted with the brim of his hat that lay in his hands.

"I hate to admit it," Hector said as he watched his granddaughter actually let go of her book and come over to them to be closer to the conversation, "But you guys know Imelda a lot better than I do now. She's definitely changed in the decades since I've known her, and I feel like I know nothing about her anymore. What I'm trying to say is… I want to reconnect with her. She was everything to me before Coco even existed, and I want to make amends. What should I do to get back into her good graces?"

"Well being around us and her all the time is definitely helping," Victoria said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Really?" Hector asked in amazement.

"Sure," Felipe said with a smile, "She hasn't been this relaxed in a long time."

"She is usually so strict about everything, but since you've come back she's been a lot happier," Oscar agreed, "She doesn't even usually let us play board games," he gestured to the chessboard for emphasis, "She usually gets all angry about it saying that it is 'counterproductive to our worth ethic.'"

"Yeah, I haven't played a chess game in years," Rosita smiled as she took one of Hector's knights with her pawn, "And I was surprised we didn't get yelled at when you pulled it out. I'm so happy you came back and even wanted to play with me. Not a lot of people do."

"I wonder why," Julio said under his breath before his sister shot him a glare.

"See! I had no idea she is usually stricter than this," Hector said as his shoulders slumped, "But I don't want to change her. I just want to get to know her again. She seems so distant while you guys are so open. I don't know what I'm doing wrong."

"I think you just need to be a little bit more forward," Oscar said as he gave his brother-in-law a comforting pat on the back.

"More forward?" Hector asked questioningly.

"Oh! You could ask her out on a date!" Rosita squealed, "That would be so romantic!"

"A date?" Hector asked as his voice went a couple of octaves higher.

"Yeah!" Felipe said in excitement, "That's a great idea! You can take her around the Land of the Dead like you did back in Santa Cecilia all those years ago!"

"You've been all over the city," Oscar said, "There are bound to be places that you want to take her."

"There are a few," Hector said as he felt hope serge in his chest, but it quickly deflated, "But I don't have the money to do anything. I don't think Imelda wants to jump onto the backs of rail cars."

"We can lend you the money," Rosita said without hesitation, "I mean you are family after all. What we make is ours to spend! Just think of the places she'd like, and we'll give you the money to take her there."

"Really?" Hector asked as his heart swelled, "That's so nice of you guys! I'll make it worth it too. I'll give her a night she won't forget!"

"That's the spirit!" Felipe cried before he, and the rest of the family, heard the doorknob turn.

"And not a moment too soon," Oscar whispered before Imelda opened the door.

She immediately knew something was off by how quiet it was in the room. Her family and _silence_ did not hold hands. She gave them all suspicious glares that they all returned with guilty smiles. The worst one was Hector's which looked like he had done something incredibly wrong. She looked around the room expecting to see an object broken or out of place, but she found nothing. She gave the whole room a deadly stare.

"What were you doing?" she asked with a little bite.

"Ummm…" Hector went to answer her, but Rosita beat him to it.

"We were just discussing what color dress you look best in," Rosita said with a smile that spoke the truth, but it was, in fact, an absolute lie.

"Now why would you be discussing that?" Imelda said in pure surprise as she placed her hands on her hips. Rosita gave the twins a look that Hector didn't understand, but clearly they did.

"Because you need to look your best for a night on the town," Oscar said.

"Oscar and I believe that you look better in blue," Felipe said before shooting a glare at Rosita that turned into a sneaky wink, "But Rosita here says you look better in purple."

"I say you look your best in black," Victoria piped up, and Hector was dumbfounded by how easily this story was coming to them. They obviously had done this before.

"What do you mean 'night on the town?'" Imelda said with a mocking tone of voice as she glared at her brothers, "What are you planning?"

"The better question is what is Papa Hector planning?" Rosita said with a smile before turning her head to look at Hector. Said skeleton was frozen in place as all eyes settled on him. He looked between Rosita to the twins and then up to Imelda's face that was screaming confusion and curiosity. He became enchanted by her beauty for a millisecond before a movement from Rosita caught his eye. She was pointing up at Imelda, but she was using her body as a blockade so Imelda couldn't see it.

Were they expecting him to ask her out now?! He wasn't ready! He was too nervous!

Hector looked fearfully back at Imelda, who hadn't budged since the conversation began. Only her eyes were moving; blinking rapidly as they swung from one family member to the next before falling back on him. Hector took a moment to breathe and admire her again.

He looked from her beautiful, fiery eyes to her hair in its usual bun, and then down her arms to her hands. These hands were still resting on her hips, that were cocked to the side slightly, and one finger was tapping impatiently against the fabric of her dress. The dress she had picked out for the day was a dark green one with black accents. Her low collar and her shining facial markings were enough to make his bloodless face hot, but that's not what he wanted to focus on.

He remembered the first time he had asked her on a date, and he remembered it being just like this. Silent, still, and terrifying. Hector remembered her awaiting gaze, much like the one she wore now, and remembered how awful he felt after he realized he was making her wait. He then realized that was exactly what he was doing now. He was making her wait. He was cutting into her precious relaxation time, and what kind of a good husband did that? All he needed to do was suck it up, and get it over with. And with that in mind, he spoke.

"Imelda, mi amor," Hector said as his hands clutched one another in an attempt to make them stop shaking, "I know we are not exactly on a good basis right now, but I want to change that. Even though we have both matured and grown, I still want to reconnect with you. I was hoping that maybe… if you don't mind… sometime later this week or even later than that if this week doesn't work… would you like to go out on a date with me…?"

The silence that met his words was enough to make him regret his very birth.

The rest of the family turned fearful eyes up to their matriarch's still face and waited. Hector felt his heart beat faster every second the silence continued. All he could do was watch her face as he waited for a reply.

He had noticed that the only reaction he had gotten from her had been right after he had said his part. Her eyebrows had raised, and her eyes had sparkled with something Hector couldn't identify. He wanted to say it was wonder, but he knew that was him being hopeful. For all he knew she could be thinking up an array of insults to shoot in his face. He decided guessing what she was going to say was useless, and that patience was the key. He just stared at her and waited.

Imelda had definitely not been expecting that to come out of his mouth.

What should she say…?

On the one hand, she was incredibly touched by his offer. It was not every day that she was asked on a date. She hadn't gone on a date in over ninety years, and her last date had been on was with him. She was honestly surprised he was going down this cautious path instead of hugging her until her bones cracked. He was being extremely courteous, and she thanked him for that. But on the other hand, she was scared to see how it would go. He was right. They had become incredibly different people in the years they had been apart, and she wasn't even sure there was even a spark to turn into a flame anymore. Previously she had been afraid that he no longer cared about her and that he just cared about their family, but his question turned those fears on their heads. She hated to admit after all these years she still cared about him. He was still adorable and loveable, and she hated that her heart was melting for him all over again. But now she wasn't so sure if she was angry. She didn't want to be alone anymore, but she also didn't know if she had the energy to try again. She was basically as nervous as he seemed to be, but she wouldn't allow him to notice.

She kept her glaring eyes on him to hide her own run-wild emotion as she continued to think.

She could go on a date and hopefully go in the direction that would lead to them rekindling their romantic relationship, or she could not and run away from the possibility of an awkward evening with cringeworthy smiles and small talk. Also, she would get bombarded with questions from her family if she went on the date, but she would also get bombarded with questions if she didn't…

"Imelda."

Said matriarch jumped as she turned to her brothers. Felipe had sounded so much like her own mama it frightened her.

"Please," Oscar continued.

"Don't listen to your head, hermana," Felipe said with a knowing smile.

"Listen to your heart," Oscar said with a face matching his brother's.

Imelda sighed as she turned back to Hector, who looked between the twins and her in utter confusion. She smiled as his silly movements and faces, and as his hat spun around on his head with each quick turn of his head. Her brothers were right… she was thinking too hard. She knew what she wanted, and she was greatly surprised that he wanted it too. She just wanted to handle it like a matriarch instead of a lovesick teenager. But she had to be honest with herself. There was no difference.

"Of course Hector," Imelda smiled for the first time all evening as Hector's entire being lit up, "I would love to go on a date with you."

Suddenly Hector let out a grito that nearly shook the entire house before wrapping his arms around her. Imelda froze, and her entire family froze too, before Hector pulled away and rested his hands upon her upper arms.

"You won't regret this!" Hector said with his widest smile on display, "I'll give you the time of your life! I've got to prepare!" With that, he dashed out of the room, and the family heard the front door of the house open and close behind him. They all looked up at Imelda with silent, wide eyes, and she opened her mouth to say something, anything, before they heard the front door open and close again.

"I'm so sorry," Hector cried as he ran back into the room, and screeched to a halt in front of Imelda again, "Does tomorrow work for you? I can come by around the time you guys close the shop… or we can make it the day after… or the day after that…"

"Hector," Imelda said with a raised palm that said 'stop, breath', "Tomorrow is perfect."

"Ok! Great!" Hector said before he turned to go again, but a thought seemed to stop him. He turned back to her, gave her a sheepish smile that she didn't understand, before quickly placing a light kiss on her cheek. Imelda felt her cheeks catch on fire as Hector dashed out again, "I'll see you tomorrow mi amor!" He called before the family heard the door open and close yet again as he left. Rosita, Julio, and Victoria all looked terrified as they watched their Mama Imelda, but Felipe and Oscar looked at their sister with huge smiles on their faces.

Imelda couldn't even think straight as her hand carefully reached up to lightly touch her kissed cheek before a smile slowly graced her face. She had no idea that would feel so good, especially considering she was a skeleton without any nerves. She didn't know how much she wanted a kiss, even a small one, before that moment. She was now craving more…

"So Imelda," Felipe started with a cheeky smile, which gained his sister's attention.

"How do you feel?" Oscar smiled too as Imelda gave a lovesick smile.

"Loved," was all she could say as she continued to rub her cheek, which finally helped Rosita, Julio, and Victoria relax.

"I look ridiculous," Imelda whined as she readjusted her dress in front of the mirror in her room for the hundredth time.

"You look gorgeous Mama Imelda," Rosita smiled as she tied a light pink ribbon around Imelda's waist, "Papa Hector is very lucky."

"That's not true," Imelda sighed as she looked at her white, floral dress carefully, keeping an eye out for anything out of place, "I don't deserve him. I was so mean to him… He has every right to be nervous. _I_ don't know what I will do most of the time. My mood could have me enjoying his company one moment, and then have me smacking him with my boot the next."

"I think you should have more trust in yourself Mama Imelda," Rosita said as she secured the bow, and stood up to meet Imelda's gaze through the mirror, "You always do what you think is right, and you're incredibly intelligent. You'll know what you want and need, and will be able to tell them apart. I personally think Hector is a perfect match for you, but I obviously don't have the experience to say that with full confidence," Imelda sighed as she thought about her daughter-in-law's words before Rosita continued, "When I heard all the stories about your husband that ran away, I imagined a large, possibly dangerous man that had no respect for anyone or anything, who was too preoccupied with his own goals that he didn't stop to think about the people he trod upon. I was definitely very far off track."

"Years of rage can exaggerate a story," Imelda said as she looked down at her perfectly polished, high heeled boots.

"Well, I hope that you can move past those hard years," Rosita said as she placed a hand on her Mama Imelda's shoulder, and Imelda turned to look at Rosita's actual face and not her reflection, "And I hope Papa Hector can help."

Imelda only nodded in response as she began to wander into her own thoughts. Rosita knew that wouldn't do her any good, so she pulled her Mama Imelda into one of her signature hugs. Imelda, who was surprised at first, smiled as she hugged Rosita back. The other skeletal woman knew exactly what she needed to feel better. Her warm hugs could brighten anyone's day, and they succeeded again when it came to Imelda.

"Thank you mija," Imelda said as Rosita let go, "You are very wise." Rosita smiled before they both heard a voice call up from downstairs.

"Imelda!" they heard Oscar yell.

"Hector's here!" Felipe finished, which was followed by some chuckling.

"Don't tease him!" Imelda yelled back down to them, and the laughter immediately stopped. After she said that, Imelda then turned to Rosita, "And please don't tease me," she said under her breath, which made Rosita giggle behind her hand. The two women walked out of the room, and down to the first floor. They stepped into the kitchen, and Imelda felt her cheeks heating up again as she looked up at her husband. She watched Hector look her up and down… and she did the same to him.

He was smiling his goofy smile, and his eyes shone like bright stars. He had attempted to look more presentable than usual. He had replaced his torn vest with a newer one, it looked like he had tried to patch up his striped pants too, and his straw hat was nowhere to be seen. Imelda felt a little better because she had thought she had gone too formal, but apparently they both had the same idea.

"Imelda," Hector gasped, sucking in a fast breath, "You look truly beautiful!" Beautiful was an understatement. He had seen her in multiple different dresses since he had been invited back into the family, but he had never seen this one. The dress had a base of white with light pink, light blue, and yellow flowers covering it. She had a light pink ribbon tied in a bow around her thin waist and a little flower of the same color in her braided hair. Her braid cascaded down her back from where it started all the way near the top of her head. Her gorgeous brown eyes spoke of her curiosity and anxiety, which he could guess reflected in his own, and he felt the urge to hug her close until she had no negative emotions to speak of.

But they weren't there yet.

Hector knew he needed to take this slow if he wanted to have a chance, and that was exactly what he was going to do.

"Thank you Hector," Imelda said as she tried to get her cheeks to cool down, "And you looked relatively handsome yourself." Hector looked very happy by her answer, but it made her brothers grumble impatiently.

"You guys go enjoy yourselves!" Oscar said cheerfully as he pushed his older sister towards the front door.

"Don't worry about us," Felipe said as he pushed Hector towards the door. His words were mostly directed at Imelda, "The house is in good hands!" The twins surprisingly succeeded in pushing the Rivera matriarch and patriarch out of the door and into the cool evening.

"You two better not break anything," Imelda growled through the open door before looking at Victoria, who was holding her book in her arms while she watched the whole situation unfold before her, "Please keep an eye on them for me mija. You're more mature than both of them combined."

"You can count on me Mama Imelda," Victoria said as she gave her grand uncles a gaze that was almost as scary as her grandmother's.

"Thank you," Imelda breathed before Rosita reached for the door.

"But in all seriousness. Please don't worry about us Mama Imelda," Rosita said as she gave her brother's mother-in-law a kind smile, "This night is all about you guys. You should only think about each other. Have fun!" With that, the door shut behind them.

Hector gulped before turning to Imelda.

This was the first time he had been completely alone with her since they came to the Land of the Dead. Before he could think about anything else, anything to say, she let out an irritated sigh.

"I don't know what has gotten into them," Imelda huffed before turning her gaze from the door to her husband, "They seem to be very excited about this."

"Yeah…" Hector breathed, suddenly incredibly scared about being in her presence, and only her presence, "They are a sweet but rambunctious lot."

"Indeed," Imelda said before silence enveloped their small conversation.

Imelda's boot tapped anxiously against the stone of her home's walkway, and Hector rubbed his thin, sleeved arm nervously.

This was what Imelda had feared.

She knew that this would happen. They would kind of start talking like normal people, but then their nerves would get the better of them. She was just grateful that they weren't in a heavily crowded place or something. That would have been ten times worse than this, but this was still pretty bad. The only way it could get worse was if her brothers decided to open the front door to make sure that she and Hector had gone.

Imelda looked around for anything, anything, to talk about. Anything to break the uncomfortable silence. Imelda's eyes looked from the quiet, dark street to the starry night sky and then to the fence around her front yard. She looked all the way along its long perimeter before she spotted something familiar on one of the fence posts. Without giving a second thought, Imelda began to walk towards it and away from her front door. Hector immediately rushed to follow her.

He followed her as she walked out of her property and onto the neighborhood road. She then took a sharp right and walked along the fence around her front yard. He gulped when she came to a halt next to a certain object he had placed there not even five minutes ago.

"What is this doing here?" Imelda asked with a sly smile as she picked up Hector's signature hat from where it was hanging on her fence.

"I was debating the entire trip here whether or not to wear it," Hector smiled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck, "I decided against it in the end. It seemed to stand out from my newer clothes." Imelda rolled her eyes before forcefully placing it back on top of his head enough to cover his eyes.

"It stands out just like you do mi amor," Imelda smiled as Hector readjusted his hat so he could see. His face expressed complete shock at her actions which surprisingly helped Imelda gain more confidence. "Did you have an idea of what we were doing tonight?"

"Huh?" Hector asked as shook himself out of his lovesick stare, "Yes! Of course! Allow me!" He offered her his arm, which she took after rolling her eyes.

He was acting like such a goof, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

"And then I told him that I was a pirate from the Caribbean Sea looking for my lost treasure!" Hector laughed as he and Imelda walked along the marketplace boardwalk. They had indulged in a wonderful dinner up in the top levels of the city, and Imelda had quite enjoyed it. She never got out enough to find good places to eat, but it seemed that Hector had had all the time in the world to explore the enormous city. He knew where all the beautiful parks were, where to find the best musical plazas, and where not to go. He was currently explaining what happened to him last time he went to one of these undesirable places.

"He then immediately stated that we were dead and there is no Caribbean Sea here, so I had to make a run for it!" Hector continued to laugh at his own story, and Imelda couldn't help but chuckle at the ridiculousness of it. He found all the ways to make a serious and possibly dangerous situation funny, and half of the time he didn't even mean to do it. He just wanted to get away without getting any of limbs broken, which irked Imelda more than she cared to admit.

She had never been to one of these undesirable places that he described, and she was glad she hadn't. But it made her sorry for him. He had searched the deepest parts of this underworld in a last chance attempt at crossing the bridge. He had been trying to find a black market way of crossing the Marigold Bridge, but he had found violence instead. It broke Imelda's heart to think of him limping home after someone broke his leg with a pipe (this was one of the many stories he had told as a means of entertainment over dinner). She hoped it hadn't been far before he had gotten the aid, or tape, he needed to make it heal enough so it didn't hurt anymore. He still had a limp, but he assured her that he was no longer in pain.

But that took her thoughts elsewhere. Where had Hector been living since he came to the Land of the Dead? Judging by the state of his normal clothes, Imelda could infer that it wasn't a five-star hotel. This made Imelda curious. She hated how easily her curiosity took off in the silliest of moments, but she knew her curiosity would not be satisfied until she knew the truth.

 _Maybe this could be the best way to reconnect_ , Imelda thought. _By showing each other the deepest darkest parts of ourselves_. She had yet to give her half of this scenario, but she knew she would definitely do it if Hector did his half. She was all for equality, but the worst of it was… she knew Hector would never say no to her.

"Hector," Imelda felt bad for cutting off his new story, but she knew that he didn't mind in the slightest. She hadn't seen him this happy since she said yes to his marriage proposal back in Santa Cecilia.

"Yes?" Hector turned to her with a huge smile on his face, and it made her smile too.

"Where have you been living all these years?" Imelda said bluntly, but sincerely, "You seem to know a lot about the city, but I know that you must have had a place to call home. Where?" Imelda watched as his smile faltered a bit and knew that she had assumed correctly about his terrible previous conditions.

"Well, it's not pretty, but it is home nonetheless," Hector said as he scratched the back of his neck, "I've been living in the land of the nearly forgotten so to speak. We are the ones who have no photos on ofrendas, no family, and no one to live with, so we live with each other," Imelda watched as his eyes became unfocused and as his mind went to old memories. She also watched as he lifted his head suddenly, and put on his signature smile, "It is better than it sounds though. While we don't get comfortable beds or running water, we still have each other, which was more than enough. They care for me, and I care for them. We share everything, and we never leave anyone behind. It is a great group of people honestly. It has been an honor to live with them as long as I have."

"Can I see it?" Imelda asked innocently, and Hector immediately reacted.

"What?" He asked with a start, "You actually want to see it? It's not a pretty place, and it's pretty filthy. I don't want to get your beautiful dress dirty."

"I'm done with pretty dresses Hector," Imelda said in her usual commanding voice. The voice she used when she wanted people to listen to her, "I've been living at the top for so long that I forgot what it was like to live at the bottom. Please show me."

"As you wish mi amor," Hector said as he took an immediate right turn off the brightly lit boardwalk.

The further they went, the darker it got.

Imelda stayed close to Hector throughout the journey. They walked down multiple staircases, some more well kept than others, and Imelda noticed how much older the buildings got the further down they went. She began to see pyramids built by ancient societies when they got to the lowest levels. She was amazed that she had never known they existed.

"Watch your step along here," Hector said as he led her down a bridge of some kind, built of incredibly old wood. He meant his warning wholeheartedly she knew because she had already counted at least nine places where a skeleton could fall through, "We obviously don't usually have guests, so we only fix it if it's entirely necessary. We can't afford to lose any materials for things that are not completely necessary."

"That makes sense," Imelda said as she watched the walkway below her carefully. The last thing she wanted to do was slip and fall through. That would be just embarrassing.

"Weeeee."

Imelda heard Hector's voice call before she heard the sound of bones crashing against stone. She looked over the ledge in front of her to find Hector reassembling himself at the very bottom of the bridge's support beams.

"I find that's easier," Hector grinned up at her with all his teeth, including his golden one, "But you can use the stairs if you'd pref-"

He jumped when he heard the sound of bones hitting against stone that was identical to his. He then looked down to find Imelda reassembling herself as well. She was laughing as she replaced her skull.

"I haven't done that since I first became a skeleton," Imelda giggled as her sockets clicked back into place, "I forgot how weird it feels to be separated but yet still together. The most I do is accidentally knock my head loose or lose a hand as I hammer a shoe too hard, but that was fun!"

Hector couldn't help but laugh at her predicament too. He had never expected the skeleton version of his beloved wife to jump from that height on any given day. He suspected she would be too good for that, but here she was giggling because she had done something relatively childish. Hector found his heart expanding. She was having fun... with him! He found that his night was getting even better.

Hector guided Imelda through the archway that led to his little nearly forgotten world, and Imelda, naturally, took it all in.

The entire town was built upon a body of water that seemed to spread in every direction underneath the huge city above them. The town was built entirely out of wood and seemed to be just a bunch of shacks linked together by bridges similar to the one she had just jumped from. Even in the late hour, skeletons were everywhere… and Imelda couldn't find one skeleton alone. They were all huddled around fires or card tables in their ragged clothes laughing and talking up a storm. Imelda smiled. Even in their dire situation, they still found a way to stay happy. Imelda was realizing more and more just how Hector was able to keep his cheerful personality.

"Cousin Hector!"

Imelda saw one of these groups call to her husband like they had known each other for years… which they probably had.

"Hey guys!" Hector called back.

"We haven't seen you for ages," one of the men in the group said as he rearranged his cards, "We were starting to fear the worst had happened."

"Nope, I'm still here and breathing," Hector smiled, "No need to worry."

"Well that's good to hear," a woman in the group said, "And I believe that Tia Chelo has something for you."

"Really?" Hector asked, "What for?"

"You'll see," the woman said as she slammed her cards on the table, "I win!"

Hector and Imelda turned away from the group and continued on their way as they heard groans coming from the table. Hector laughed under his breath, but it soon disappeared. She knew what he was thinking.

He would have actually been gone if it hadn't been for Miguel. In every other possible future, he wouldn't have made it and the nearly forgotten would have truly had to think the worse. He would have left this world without being satisfied with his life. He would have died a slow and painful death alone, and there would have been nothing to stop it.

Imelda took ahold of her husband's arm as they walked and gently laid her head against his shoulder. She felt him stiffen at first before he completely relaxed. She felt all those thoughts in his head wash away as he began to think about her and her alone. She knew he was. He was so nervous about pleasing her that this was probably the only thing going through his mind right now. He was worrying about her and, in turn, she was worrying about him.

"Hector!"

"Tia Chelo!" Hector called back as he led Imelda over to another makeshift table, but this one wasn't covered in cards. This one was covered in empty shot glasses and there were two sleeping skeleton women resting upon it. Chelo rolled her eyes at her sleeping companions.

"Couldn't beat me," she laughed as she looked up at her old friend. Chelo then smiled up at Imelda before asking, "Now who might you be?"

"This is Imelda," Hector said happily.

"I'm his wife," Imelda finished Hector's unspoken thought. She knew he had been debating saying it, so she said it for him. She saw Hector's smile grow even bigger at her words.

"Well, aren't you just gorgeous," Chelo said with excitement, "This old fool has obviously told us so much about you, but he didn't mention just how beautiful you were." Imelda felt her cheeks burning at her compliment, and she stuttered before she replied.

"Well, thank you," Imelda said as she looked down at her boots. Hector smiled at her flustered state before speaking.

"I was told that you had something for me?" Hector said it more like a question because he himself was unsure.

"Yes," Chelo said as she turned around in her seat and reached for something behind her, "I've been keeping it by my side since I found it considering it's incredibly valuable." Hector and Imelda gazed in amazement as she handed him a guitar. It was a little chipped and in need of a good polishing, but other than that it seemed to be in pretty good condition. Hector took it with trembling hands as he looked it over.

Imelda knew her husband well enough to know that when he was handed a guitar, he needed to examine it. So she grabbed a nearby chair and set it down next to him. He gave her a sheepish grin before grabbing another chair for her. They both sat down at the table together.

"Where did you find it?" Hector asked in awe as he strummed the chords and found the perfect tune of each string.

"Out and about," Chelo said with a sly smile that said she was keeping her masterful secrets, "Can you believe that someone was about to throw it away. Humph! Shameful."

"Indeed," Imelda said as she stomped down all the bad feelings she was beginning to feel. She used to be that person. She would have been the one to throw away such a beautiful instrument, but she knew she shouldn't think about that. This was her precious time with Hector, and she would not waste it.

Hector began to strum a melody along the strings, and Chelo turned to look at Imelda.

"I've also heard that you can sing." Hector's head shot up at that, and he looked towards his wife with a worried stare.

"Well, I'm a tad bit rusty," Imelda said as she looked at the guitar. She didn't dare make eye contact with the woman in front of her.

"Nonsense," Chelo said with a wave of her hand, "Music is music! It can never be rusty! It flows through you. Always has, always will. It comes to those worthy of it even in the darkest of times, and you are worthy my dear." Imelda looked between Hector and Chelo before she gave a nervous laugh.

"I don't know," Imelda sighed.

"I'll go slow and easy," Hector smiled as he started strumming a different tune, one she knew well. She sighed and smiled at him.

"Ay, de mi llorona," she began as the words flowed through her lips like honey: smooth and calm, "Llorona de azul celeste."

Hector smiled at her the entire time and encouraged her to continue. She didn't even notice when more skeletons came over to listen to her or what time it was. She just sang like she hadn't done in nearly a century, and enjoyed every second.


End file.
